The Department of English at Queen Mary University of London is delighted to announce a new writing competition. Designed to foster and reward the best new writing by students in Years 11, 12 and 13 from across the UK, we will be awarding one prize for an original piece of Creative Writing and one prize for an original Essay.
A shortlist of entries will be drawn up by an expert panel from the Department of English. Winners will be selected by novelist and Queen Mary English graduate Leo Vardiashvili, author of Hard by a Great Forest (2024). Leo was named as one of the Observer’s 10 Best New Novelists for 2024 and shortlisted for the prestigious Wilbur Smith Prize.
The winners will be announced at an event at Queen Mary in late Spring. They will each be awarded £250. Those short-listed will also receive a certificate of commendation.
If you have any queries please email us at:
eng-writingprize@qmul.ac.uk.
If you’re submitting creative writing, perhaps you want to reflect on the water that rushes through your street after a heavy downpour? or on the chronic shortage of water elsewhere? What about the threat and, conversely, the opportunities that rivers and seas represent, especially to those seeking to escape somewhere? In recent years, the United Kingdom’s waters have become more and more politicised, whether we are talking about the perils of the English Channel or the toxicity of our rivers. Water often unites people as much as it separates them. At its most fundamental, water is what nourishes and sustains all living things.
Those submitting an essay should consider the role of water in literature in English, where in some kind of form or another it has played a leading role. Think, for instance, about the sea in Shakespeare’s The Tempest or the storm that rages through King Lear. Poets too, like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Derek Walcott, and Nathalie Diaz, often find themselves drawn into watery worlds. In responding to this theme, we encourage you to be as creative and inventive as you wish. You are welcome to think about the role of water in literature over time, in different places around the world, or at diverse scales.
For our Creative Writing Prize, we welcome original works of creative fiction, poetry, and drama. If submitting, a piece of fiction or drama, submissions must be no more than 1000 words. If submitting poetry, we will accept up to 4 short poems (up to 20 lines each), or 1 longer poem (no more than 80 lines).
For our Essay Prize, we invite original responses to the theme as it appears in one or more works of fiction, poetry or drama. This work must originally have been written in English. Essays should be no more than 1000 words. We encourage you to engage closely with the form and content of your chosen literary work(s), reflecting on the way they engage with this year’s theme.
Your submission along with your name, year of study, and school name should be sent by e-mail to eng-writingprize@qmul.ac.uk and must be received by midnight on 18 April 2025.
