Manchester Fiction Prize
Encyclopedia
The Manchester Fiction Prize is a literary award celebrating excellence in creative writing. It was launched by Carol Ann Duffy
and The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University
in 2009, as the second phase of the annual Manchester Writing Competition (which began in 2008 with the first Manchester Poetry Prize
, judged by Duffy, Gillian Clarke
and Imtiaz Dharker
).
The Manchester Fiction Prize is open internationally to anyone aged 16 or over (there is no upper age limit) and awards a cash prize of £10,000 to the writer of the best short story submitted. In addition to this, the 2009 Manchester Fiction Prize offered a bursary for study at MMU, or cash equivalent, to an entrant aged 18-25 as part of the Jeffrey Wainwright Manchester Young Writer of the Year Award.
Entrants are asked to submit a complete short story, which can be on any subject, and written in any style, but must be new work, not published (in print or online) or submitted for consideration elsewhere. In 2009 the maximum story length was 5,000 words, reduced to 3,000 for the 2011 competition.
The 2009 competition was judged by novelists and short story writers Sarah Hall (writer)
, M. John Harrison
and Nicholas Royle
. The prize-winners were announced at a gala ceremony on Friday 23rd October 2009, held at Manchester Town Hall
. The ceremony opened the 2009 Manchester Literature Festival 'Short Weekend' and featured readings from two of the judges (Hall and Royle) and the six short-listed stories. The evening was hosted by James Draper from the Manchester Writing School at MMU and Matthew Frost from the Manchester Literature Festival. Toby Litt took the £10,000 first prize and Michael E. Halmshaw was named the Manchester Young Writer of the Year. The runners up were Peter Deadman, Vicki Jarrett, Jennifer Mills
and Alison Moore.
The Manchester Writing School launched the second Manchester Fiction Prize in January 2011 with Nicholas Royle
once again acting as Head Judge. The number of judges was increased from three to four in 2011, with short story writers Heather Beck, John Burnside
and Alison MacLeod joining Royle on the panel. While the main prize remained at £10,000, and the competition was still open to anyone aged 16 or over, the Young Writer of the Year element was dropped as the rise in UK university tuition fees made it financially unfeasible to offer a bursary. The 2011 Prize received a record number of entries - almost 1,900 from over 45 countries - and the judges were so impressed with the overall quality that they asked to increase the short-list from six to eight, and to commend an additional 31 storieshttp://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/fiction/commended.php; the international nature of the competition was reflected in the make-up of the short-list, with four finalists from the UK, three from the USA and one from Canada.http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/fiction/shortlist.php The prize was awarded at a ceremony held once again as part of the Manchester Literature Festival, this time taking place at Chetham's School of Music
in the centre of Manchester on the evening of Friday 14th October; Draper and Frost returned as hosts, this time working as a comical double-act. Head Judge Nicholas Royle spoke about the difficulty of choosing a winner and announced that the panel had decided to split the prize, awarding a first prize of £7,500 to Krishan Coupland and a second prize of £2,500 to Richard Hirst.http://manchesterliterature.blogspot.com/2011/10/prize-fighters.html The runners up were Nicole Cullen, Garret Freymann-Weyr, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Alex Preston, Bethany Rogers and Judith Turner-Yamamoto.
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Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy, CBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's poet laureate in May 2009...
and The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
in 2009, as the second phase of the annual Manchester Writing Competition (which began in 2008 with the first Manchester Poetry Prize
Manchester Poetry Prize
The Manchester Poetry Prize is a literary award celebrating excellence in creative writing. It was launched by Carol Ann Duffy and The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2008, and was the first phase of the annual Manchester Writing Competition.Open internationally...
, judged by Duffy, Gillian Clarke
Gillian Clarke
Gillian Clarke is a Welsh poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator from Welsh.-Life:Clarke was born in Cardiff and brought up in Cardiff and Penarth, though for part of the Second World War she was in Pembrokeshire...
and Imtiaz Dharker
Imtiaz Dharker
Imtiaz Dharker is a Scottish Muslim, poet, artist and documentary film-maker.- Family and background:She was born in Lahore to Pakistani parents. She was brought up in Glasgow where her family moved when she was less than a year old...
).
The Manchester Fiction Prize is open internationally to anyone aged 16 or over (there is no upper age limit) and awards a cash prize of £10,000 to the writer of the best short story submitted. In addition to this, the 2009 Manchester Fiction Prize offered a bursary for study at MMU, or cash equivalent, to an entrant aged 18-25 as part of the Jeffrey Wainwright Manchester Young Writer of the Year Award.
Entrants are asked to submit a complete short story, which can be on any subject, and written in any style, but must be new work, not published (in print or online) or submitted for consideration elsewhere. In 2009 the maximum story length was 5,000 words, reduced to 3,000 for the 2011 competition.
The 2009 competition was judged by novelists and short story writers Sarah Hall (writer)
Sarah Hall (writer)
Sarah Hall is an English novelist, and poet. Her critically acclaimed second novel, The Electric Michelangelo, was nominated for the 2004 Man Booker Prize and achieved considerable international commercial success...
, M. John Harrison
M. John Harrison
M. John Harrison , known as Mike Harrison, is an English author and critic. His work includes the Viriconium sequence of novels and short stories, , Climbers , and the Kefahuchi Tract series which begins with Light . He currently resides in London.-Early years:Harrison was born in Rugby,...
and Nicholas Royle
Nicholas Royle
Nicholas Royle is an English novelist.Born in Manchester, Royle has written five novels - Counterparts, Saxophone Dreams, The Matter of the Heart, The Director’s Cut and Antwerp. He also claims to have written more than 100 short stories, which have appeared in a variety of anthologies and...
. The prize-winners were announced at a gala ceremony on Friday 23rd October 2009, held at Manchester Town Hall
Manchester Town Hall
Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian-era, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. The building functions as the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments....
. The ceremony opened the 2009 Manchester Literature Festival 'Short Weekend' and featured readings from two of the judges (Hall and Royle) and the six short-listed stories. The evening was hosted by James Draper from the Manchester Writing School at MMU and Matthew Frost from the Manchester Literature Festival. Toby Litt took the £10,000 first prize and Michael E. Halmshaw was named the Manchester Young Writer of the Year. The runners up were Peter Deadman, Vicki Jarrett, Jennifer Mills
Jennifer Mills
Jennifer Mills is an Australian novelist, short story writer and poet. She is the author of the novels 'The Diamond Anchor' and 'Gone' , both published by University of Queensland Press, and a chapbook of poems, Treading Earth....
and Alison Moore.
The Manchester Writing School launched the second Manchester Fiction Prize in January 2011 with Nicholas Royle
Nicholas Royle
Nicholas Royle is an English novelist.Born in Manchester, Royle has written five novels - Counterparts, Saxophone Dreams, The Matter of the Heart, The Director’s Cut and Antwerp. He also claims to have written more than 100 short stories, which have appeared in a variety of anthologies and...
once again acting as Head Judge. The number of judges was increased from three to four in 2011, with short story writers Heather Beck, John Burnside
John Burnside
John Burnside is a Scottish writer, born in Dunfermline.-Background:Burnside studied English and European Languages at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. A former computer software engineer, he has been a freelance writer since 1996...
and Alison MacLeod joining Royle on the panel. While the main prize remained at £10,000, and the competition was still open to anyone aged 16 or over, the Young Writer of the Year element was dropped as the rise in UK university tuition fees made it financially unfeasible to offer a bursary. The 2011 Prize received a record number of entries - almost 1,900 from over 45 countries - and the judges were so impressed with the overall quality that they asked to increase the short-list from six to eight, and to commend an additional 31 storieshttp://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/fiction/commended.php; the international nature of the competition was reflected in the make-up of the short-list, with four finalists from the UK, three from the USA and one from Canada.http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/fiction/shortlist.php The prize was awarded at a ceremony held once again as part of the Manchester Literature Festival, this time taking place at Chetham's School of Music
Chetham's School of Music
Chetham's School of Music , familiarly known as "Chets", is a specialist independent co-educational music school, situated in Manchester city centre, in North West England. It was established in 1969, incorporating Chetham's Hospital School, founded as a charity school by Humphrey Chetham in 1653...
in the centre of Manchester on the evening of Friday 14th October; Draper and Frost returned as hosts, this time working as a comical double-act. Head Judge Nicholas Royle spoke about the difficulty of choosing a winner and announced that the panel had decided to split the prize, awarding a first prize of £7,500 to Krishan Coupland and a second prize of £2,500 to Richard Hirst.http://manchesterliterature.blogspot.com/2011/10/prize-fighters.html The runners up were Nicole Cullen, Garret Freymann-Weyr, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Alex Preston, Bethany Rogers and Judith Turner-Yamamoto.
External links
- Manchester Writing Competition
- MMU Writing School
- Manchester Literature Festival
- Bookseller
- The Short Story
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