Undiscovered Voices is not the only competition for new writers

 If anyone needs a pick-me-up after the stress of getting in their UV entry, here's a great excuse to crack open the champers. Today we're celebrating with Marie-Claire Imam-Gutierrez, who's just won a new writer's award. I recently met Marie-Claire while trying to shove a Words & Pictures flyer into her hands at the Verulam Writers' Conference, so I was extra excited for her!


Undiscovered Voices has been on everyone's mind recently, but don't forget there are other writing competitions that can also give your writing career a boost. Congrats to Marie-Claire who won a New Fiction Bursary from the Northern Writers Awards. Her prize... a manuscript assessment with The Literacy Consultancy. If you live up North, take extra special note, as the awards, established in 2000 by New Writing North, are the North’s premiere talent development programme for writers. Over the last 12 years, the awards have been open to writers in the north east of England and have supported over 120 writers, 70 per cent of whom have gone on to publish their work. They are now open to writers in the whole of the north of England and next year's awards are open to entries from October 2013.

Marie-Claire says "I'm the one in the cowboy boots!" @mcimam

"I am also entering Undiscovered Voices this year" 

A couple of weeks ago, Marie-Claire told us: "I was amazed and delighted that I won this bursary and I hope that it's a step towards getting published. I am also entering Undiscovered Voices this year and am frantically editing right now!" She'll have sent her entry in by now, so good luck Marie-Claire!

Marie-Claire is a primary school teacher in Newcastle who has been writing her YA sci-fi/fantasy for six years. She actually first entered the Northern Writers’ Awards last year. Although she didn’t get a prize, the small amount of feedback gave her encouragement to keep writing. She then joined SCBWI and the brilliant crit group which meets monthly in the Seven Stories in Newcastle. When she entered the awards again this year… bingo! 

 So if you live up north and haven’t already, do check out the Northern Writers Awards. Maybe you could also win some support to help you on the road to publication. Hmmm… I once lived in Manchester for a year - does that count?

Please join me with a Hip Hip Hooray! for Marie-Claire and let's drink a toast to her future literary success!

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Tania Tay is an ex-advertising copywriter and has been published in Sable LitMag. She is writing MG and YA fiction, and is on the editorial team at Words & Pictures.