Winners of the Northern Writers’ Awards 2023 unveiled

Twenty-five writers from the north of England received Northern Writers’ Awards, collectively worth upwards of £50,000, at the Northern Writers’ Awards on Tuesday 20th June at a ceremony at Northumbria University, Newcastle.

The Northern Writers’ Awards were founded by New Writing North in 2000 and exist to recognise talent and support new work towards publication or broadcast. In 2023, more than a dozen books have been published by previous Northern Writers’ Awards winners, including A Dark Inheritance by H F Askwith (Penguin); Cuddy by Benjamin Myers (Bloomsbury); Lily Grim and The City of Undone by Andy Ruffell (Hodder); Dear Neighbour by Jane Claire Bradley (Sphere); The Ink Cloud Reader by Kit Fan (Carcanet); and The Summer She Vanished by Jessica Irena Smith (Headline).

Awards offered in this round are supported by partners including Hachette Children’s Group, Newcastle University, The North Literary Agency, the writer Benjamin Myers and the families and friends of Sid Chaplin and Matthew Hale. The Northern Writers’ Awards are produced by New Writing North with support from Northumbria University and Arts Council England.

Several of the awards are enhanced by partnerships with the Literary Consultancy, the Society of Authors, Out-Spoken Press and Oneworld. New for 2023, winners of Northern Debut Awards will also receive a group Writing Weekend at Lockhaugh Farm in the Derwent Valley.

Since 2023, the Northern Writers’ Awards have moved to staggered, year-round submission windows due to growth in the programme, meaning that even more awards with partners including Channel 4, Arvon, Rollem Productions, Lime Pictures, Bonafide Films and the Word Factory will be announced later in the year.  

Of the prize Hilary Murray Hill, chief executive officer of Hachette Children’s Group, said: “Working with New Writing North is always a joyful moment in our publishing calendar – the judging process is collaborative, illuminating and rewarding, and working with our eventual winners is no less of a pleasure. Keen, informed, energetic and supportive they always embrace the whole experience with gusto, and there’s always excellent local support to help bolster that. It always feels like a positive process for all involved.”

Will Mackie, senior programme manager (talent development) and programme leader (MA in Publishing), New Writing North, said: “The Northern Writers’ Awards continue to throw a spotlight on some of the most fresh and inspiring new writing being produced anywhere in the UK. We’re excited and fortunate to be able to support this year’s winners and are looking forward to working with them as they continue to develop their work in progress."

Sairish Hussain, judge for fiction and narrative non-fiction awards, said: “It’s been such an honour to judge this year’s Northern Writers’ Award for Fiction. The submissions were truly impressive, with a breadth of stories being told in the most creative and skilful ways. My fellow judge and I had wonderful conversations about the writing – as well as some tough decisions to make! I know that this year’s winners will continue to inspire and ignite conversations about new Northern talent.”

Ross Raisin, judge for fiction and narrative non-fiction awards, said: “The winning entries for this year were exactly what we had hoped to find: stylistically accomplished; intellectually, politically, playfully engaged with the minutiae of worlds that surprised and delighted us. There is something unshowily confident, new, in this writing, which was a pleasure to read.”

Caroline Bird, judge for poetry awards, said: “I was unusually struck by the standard of the entries in both categories; it made the job of choosing winners both enjoyable and torturous! That said, I couldn’t be more proud of the winners. The three debut collections by Carson Wolfe, Alex Mepham and Jane Thomas, each feel expertly cut from their own sort of rare, sentient stone; and the poems pull you into the page and cast you out, changed.

The two Northern Writers’ Award winners, Liam Bates and Holly Hopkins, have already published excellent collections and also this new work feels truly new, taking risks both formally and emotionally, as if both poets are physically striving to light up uncharted areas in their hearts and brains. I can’t wait to see all of these books on shelves and all their books yet to come.”

A list of the winners of Northern Writers’ Awards 2023, in full, can be found below:

Northern Writers’ Award for Fiction 
Alison Armstrong
Emma Morgan

Northern Writers’ Awards for Poetry 
Holly Hopkins 
Liam Bates

Hachette Children’s Novel Awards
Rachel Pattinson
Rachel Rowlands

Northern Debut Award for Fiction 
Anton Rose

Northern Debut Award for Memoir 
Yvonne Reddick

Northern Debut Award for Young Adult Fiction  
Bridget Helen Hamilton

Northern Debut Awards for Poetry 
Carson Wolfe

Northern Debut Award for Poetry: Out-Spoken Press Programme 
Alex Mepham
Jane Thomas

Northern Promise TLC Awards
Letty Butler
Farzana A Ghani
Katja L Kaine

Northumbria University Student and Alumni Award 
Helen Parker

Sid Chaplin Award 
Dr Louise Marie Powell (Winner) 
Candi Martin (Highly Commended)

Finchale Award for Short Fiction 
Sarah Davy

Young Northern Writers’ Awards 
Fadi Alali (Winner, 11-14) 
Abby Wilson (Highly Commended, 11-14) 
Isabel Johnson (Winner, 15-18) 
Joe Wright (Highly Commended, 15-18)

Matthew Hale Award 
Robert Hall (Winner) 
Hanna Elkaram (Highly Commended)