Bell wins Nature Writing Prize for Working-Class Writers for 'original' piece ‘A Prayer to the Sea’

Jeni Bell has won this year’s Nature Writing Prize for Working-Class Writers for her original piece ‘A Prayer to the Sea’. 

Founded by Natasha Carthew in 2020, the prize is free to enter and recognises unpublished works of up to 1,000 words in any literary category. The annual competition is open to self-identified working-class writers resident in the UK and not previously published in book form. 

The award seeks to “break down barriers in nature writing” and champion the work of previously unpublished writers in the genre, “giving encouragement, insight and exposure to working-class people in the earliest stages of their writing careers”. The winner was announced at the prize-giving ceremony on Friday 18th November at the 2022 FutureBook conference, which coincided with the launch of The Bookseller’s Working-Class issue, which Carthew guest edited. 

Bell saw off competition from Wesley Finch, Ewan Jenkins, Tina Jones, Maggie Langford and Emma Witcutt. She wins one year’s free membership to the Campaign for National Parks, a £300 paid commission to write a National Parks-inspired piece for Viewpoint Magazine, an Arvon course of choice, three one-hour mentoring sessions with a Gaia commissioner, and a book bundle from Octopus Publishing Group. 

Bell said: "I was absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for the prize, and even more so to have won. Putting your work out there can be scary, so to have someone believe in your words is just incredible. I’m so thankful to Natasha, the judges, and everyone else who made this competition possible."