Do you love writing? Are you looking for an opportunity to showcase your talent as an author? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you need to know about the Mo Siewcharran Prize, a new initiative looking to reward unpublished writers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds to give them a boost toward their dream of becoming published authors.
The saying goes that everyone has a novel in them, well, if you would like to test this theory out, here is the perfect opportunity to see if you have what it takes. The award is looking for compelling, unique, relatable novels that tell us something about the world we live in and the breadth of human experiences. The new annual award, launched by Hatchette, aims to discover and nurture talent from under-represented backgrounds writing in English and to give those writers the opportunity to be published by Hachette UK.
“I very much look forward to reading the entries and finding brilliant new voices from BAME backgrounds to publish in her legacy.”
The award gets its name from Mo Siewcharran, a well-loved figure in the world of publishing. Her career includes working for sixteen years, latterly as Director of Marketing and Communications. She also worked at Nielsen Book, who are kindly supporting the prize. Prior to working at Nielsen Book, Mo worked at Penguin Random House where she met her husband John Seaton whose generosity has helped to establish the prize in her memory after she died suddenly in June 2017.
The awards will be judged by a select list of publishing heavy-weights, including Sharmaine Lovegrove co-chair of Changing the Story and Publisher of Dialogue Books and THRIVE – Hachette UK’s BAME Employee Network.
Sharmaine said: “It’s been such an honour to create an award in the memory of Mo Siewcharran. Mo was a brilliant advocate for inclusion in publishing and she truly believed in the power of books. I very much look forward to reading the entries and finding brilliant new voices from BAME backgrounds to publish in her legacy.”
Awards
1st Prize – £2,500 prize money plus a publishing deal* with Little, Brown imprint Dialogue Books
2nd Prize – £1,500 prize money plus a hamper of books
3rd Prize – £750.00 prize money plus a hamper of books
*subject to contract
How to Enter
Write a 700-word synopsis of the plot of your novel, a list of the book’s characters and no more than 8,000 words (either the first three chapters or first fifty pages) of the novel in English needs to be submitted here by 12 July 2019.
Find out more information and learn how to take part.
