There are three categories/prizes -
Overall Winner
Student Winner (prize donated by if:book)
People's Choice (prize donated by Arts Bournemouth)
There will also be substantial media coverage of the Award, and winners will be given full acknowledgement in all press releases and related material.
Midday on Friday Oct 12th (GMT)
Shortlisted entrants will be invited to the awards ceremony on Weds November 28th 2012. Winners will be announced then.
We are looking for good storytelling (fiction or non-fiction) written specifically for delivery and reading/viewing on a PC or Mac, the web, or a hand-held device such as an iPad or mobile phone. It could be a short story, novel, documentary or poem using words, images, film or animation with audience interaction.
We are looking for creativity, so try to be imaginative to create an engaging story i.e. combining any number of media elements, such as words on a screen combined with images and video clips. New media writing can be created using a variety of tools i.e. a word processor, DV camera, social networking tools (i.e. Twitter), mobile phone/s, a scanner – anything goes!
We are not looking for a story/poem which you can upload to a web page or place on a disc.
We are not looking for screens of words uploaded to your blog and we are not looking for a slideshow of photos uploaded to Flickr or a video uploaded to YouTube.
The judges will be looking for the following:
- Innovative use of new media to create an engaging, satisfying narrative or poem
- Ease of accessibility for the reader/viewer
- Effective use of interactive elements
- An example of how new media can do things traditional media can't
- The potential to reach out to an wide audience, i.e. not just specialist interest groups
For the Competition Rules, please
click here
Anyone can apply! Whether you’re a student, a professional, an artist, a writer, a Flash designer or an enthusiast, the competition is open to all. It's also an international competition, open to all outside the UK.
For Competitions Rules click here.
Each entry should be submitted by email to submissions@newmediawritingprize.co.uk by midday Friday October 12th GMT 2012. Each emailed entry should contain an active URL for the judges to access your work. However if your entry is for viewing on a mobile phone or other electronic device, please provide clear instructions on how to view your piece.
It is important that you read and understand the Competition Rules. Your entry will be disqualified if you do not comply with these Rules.
New media is a broad term for communicating information dynamically and interactively. It is the amalgamation of traditional media such as films, images, music and the written word but with interactive features. Interactivity is enabled through digital means such as computer programs, games consoles, computer hand-held devices, communication technologies and the internet. Interaction such as online multi-player gaming and social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and Wikis) for example, allow users to behave actively instead of passively through creative participation, feedback and community formation.
With the popular demand of eBooks, which can be read on devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, Apple's iPad and Blackberry's Playbook, new opportunities have arisen for writers. Publishers are beginning to realise the potential of the new art form in creating, for example, interactive eBooks and we hope the prize will raise awareness, reward those working in new media and add to the debate. Read what Michael Bhaskar, Digital Publishing Manager at Profile Books, has to say on his article a view from the publishing office. This new digital platform offers writers the chance to explore a playground of limitless creations and new opportunities to collaborate with other artists.
Dr James Pope is the co-founder of the New Media Writing Prize and senior lecturer at the Media School, Bournemouth University. He has a particular interest in how digital media may be changing narrative forms as well as reading and writing practices. the teaching of creative writing in digital media environments, and children's literature. As well as several recent publications around his research into readers' reactions to interactive fiction, Jim has also published six novels for children and teenagers.
Sarah Butler is a novelist and founder of Urban Words, a consultancy running literature-based projects that engage with the process of regeneration in innovative ways. She’s been writer in residence on the Central Line and was lead writer on LEAP! the International 24 Hour Book produced with Spread the Word. Her first novel Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love will be published in February 2013 by Picador and rights have already been sold in nine languages and the USA.
Lisa Gee writes on books and new media literature, is an if:book associate, is the author of non-fiction titles Stage Mum and Friends: why men and women are from the same planet and the editor of Bricks Without Mortar: the selected poems of Hartley Coleridge. Her current writing project – HayleyWorld: the story of a nice man, a proposed biography of not-terribly-good, long-dead poet William Hayley – can be viewed/pre-purchased on the Unbound website. @LIS4G33
Sam Missingham is head of events & marketing for The Bookseller Group. This includes FutureBook, The Bookseller and We Love This Book. She is responsible for audience building, events and awards management, programming and all areas of marketing. Working to ensure The Bookseller is considered the essential brand for the book trade and to establish FutureBook as THE resource for all things digital publishing. She thinks the world is full of exciting possibilities thanks to the meeting of technology and the publishing industry.
Louise Rice has over 30 years' international publishing experience in educational, trade and reference publishing, and now works as a Producer and on Business Development at Touch Press, renowned for their award-winning apps such as Elements and The Waste Land. She is currently immersed in the production of War Horse: A Novel by Michael Morpurgo. Prior to that she was Publishing & Merchandise Director at the National Gallery .
