Graham Greene Birthplace Trust's Creative Writing Awards 2014

 

Starting Points, Categories and Rules for GGBT's Creative Writing Awards 2014

 

To enter the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust’s Creative Writing Awards, writers are invited to submit written texts to the Awards' Secretary by 1st April 2014 under one or more of eight categories, and a panel of judges will decide the best entries. Awards will be announced at the Graham Greene International Festival 2014. Winning texts may be displayed for the public to read at the Festival and on the Festival's website.

Prose writers must begin their competition entries with the following words, and continue from there:

'Three doors opened off a dark passage. From behind one of them there seeped the smell of....'

Screenplay writers and playwrights must embed the following words somewhere in the dialogue of their competition entries:

'.... Three doors opened off a dark passage. From behind one of them there seeped the smell of....'

Awards are offered in the following categories:

(1) best prose fiction writer;

(2) best prose thriller writer;

(3) best prose travel writer;

(4) best screenplay writer;

(5) best playwright (for theatre);

(6) best writer of prose, screenplay or play under the age of twenty-one years on 1st April 2014;

(7) best Berkhamstedian writer of prose, screenplay or play (i.e. a writer who is a pupil at Berkhamsted School on 1st April 2014);

(8) best Old Berkhamstedian writer of prose, screenplay or play (i.e. a writer who is a former pupil at Berkhamsted School on 1st April 2014). 

The Rules and Practices governing the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust’s Creative Writing Awards are:

(1) each entry shall be written mostly in the English language and shall have a title; each prose entry 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); the writer’s name should not be written on the entry, but should be given in the accompanying e-mail message (v. Rules 2 and 5);

(2) 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 2014;

(3) each entry must be original and unpublished, must be submitted under a specific category, and must have been written by the person who submits the work; each entry shall be a complete text and not an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;

(4) a writer may submit an entry in more than one category, provided that the entry is different in each case;

(5) a writer must supply full contact details, including real name, full postal address and telephone number, and these details should be given on the e-mail message to which the entry is attached;

(6) a writer who submits an entry in category (6) or (7) or (8) must also present evidence of status and eligibility to the Awards’ Secretary  along with the entry;

(7) entries received after the closing date shall not be considered for an Award;

(8) writers shall be responsible for the appropriateness, suitability, decency and legality of their own written entries, 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 entries;

(9) an entry which is deemed to be inappropriate, unsuitable, obscene, offensive or illegal shall not be considered for an Award, and may be the subject of legal action;

(10) Awards shall be announced at the Graham Greene International Festival in 2014;

(11) 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;

(12) the decisions of the judges shall be final, and no correspondence shall be entered into.

Further information on and any amendments concerning the Awards may be seen on one of the GGBT's Facebook pages, which may be accessed from the GGBT website, and on this Blog.

 

Graham Greene Birthplace Trust's Creative Writing Awards 2013

 

Prof Joyce Stavick (University of North Georgia, USA) presented the prizes for the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust's Creative Writing Awards 2013 at the sixteenth Graham Greene International Festival in Deans’ Hall, Berkhamsted School, on Saturday 26th September 2013.

There were winning entries in three categories:

Best Prose Fiction Writer : JD Casteel for ‘Corrosion’

Best Prose Thriller Writer : Peter Guttridge for ‘God’s Lonely Man’

Best Prose Travel Writer : Peter Guttridge for ‘One Day in Caracas’

Prose Writers had to 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….'

The winning entries for the Awards in 2013 may be read after clicking the respective links on the Creative Writing page of the GGBT's website.

Prizes were not awarded in the other categories, but Fergal Casey was commended for his entry ‘The Bungalows of Old Hollywood’ in the category of Playwright.