GGBT Creative Writing Awards 2013
To enter the GGBT's Creative Writing Awards, writers are invited to submit written texts under one or more of eight categories, and a panel of judges will decide the best entries. Awards will be announced at the Festival 2013. Winning texts may be displayed for the public to read at the Festival and on the Festival's website.
Awards are offered in the following categories:
- best prose fiction writer
- best prose thriller writer
- best prose travel writer
- best screenplay writer
- best playwright (for theatre)
- best writer of prose, screenplay or play under the age of twenty-one years on 1st April 2013
- best Berkhamstedian writer of prose, screenplay or play (i.e. a writer who is a pupil at Berkhamsted School on 1st April 2013)
- best Old Berkhamstedian writer of prose, screenplay or play (i.e. a writer who is a former pupil at Berkhamsted School on 1st April 2013).
Prose writers must begin with the following words, and continue from there:
The wind rocked the car, and spray broke across the traffic-lanes and misted the seaward window…
Screenplay writers and playwrights must embed the following words somewhere in their dialogue:
The wind rocked the car, and spray broke across the traffic-lanes and misted the seaward window…
The rules and practices governing the Awards are:
- each entry shall be written mostly in English and shall have a title; each prose text shall be no more than 800 words; each screenplay and play (for theatre) entry shall be typed on no more than four sides of A4 paper in a normal font size (e.g. Times New Roman 11pt);
- each entry shall be typed, shall be submitted as a pdf file and attached to an e-mail message sent to the Awards Secretary, by the closing date, which is 1st April 2013;
- each entry must be original and unpublished, must be submitted under a specific category, and must have been written by the person who submits the work; each entry shall be a complete text and not an extract from a larger text;
- a writer may submit an entry in more than one category, provided that the entry is different in each case;
- a writer must also supply full contact details, including real name, full postal address and telephone number;
- a writer who submits work in category (6), (7) or (8) must also present evidence of status and eligibility to the Awards' Secretary along with the entry;
- entries received after the closing date shall not be considered for an Award;
- writers shall be responsible for the appropriateness, suitability, decency and legality of their own written texts, and neither the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust nor its judges nor any of its members or associates shall be responsible for the content of such texts;
- written texts which are deemed to be inappropriate, unsuitable, obscene, offensive or illegal shall not be considered for an Award, and may be the subject of legal action;
- Awards shall be announced at the Festival in September 2013;
- an Award shall be not made under a specific category if, in the opinion of the judges, there is no entry which merits an Award;
- the decisions of the judges shall be final, and no correspondence shall be entered into.
Download the rules as a PDF file.
The prizes for the GGBT's Creative Writing Awards 2013 will be presented at the Festival in 2013.
Winners of the Awards for April 2012
At the Festival 2012, prizes were presented by Prof Peter Evans (Queen Mary, University of London, UK) and Prof Neil Sinyard (University of Hull, UK) to the following winners of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust’s Creative Writing Awards 2012:
Fergal Casey (Ballinteer, County Dublin, Ireland) for Best Fiction and Best Screenplay
Christina Hyun (Issaquah, Washington, USA) for Best Thriller
Jonathan Langley (South Africa and Oxfordshire, UK) for Best Travel writing
Aimée Boggins (Hertfordshire, England, UK) for Best Berkhamstedian writer.