Everybody has a story in them and author Val Wood and Hull Libraries want to hear yours.
Teaming up with up with Hull Libraries for the eighth consecutive year, the Val Wood Prize 2021 will once again also support both local and international writing talent, with two separate awards; an international prize and a special Yorkshire prize.
The theme of this year’s Open Prize is “Now and Then”. Entries should be original and packed with creativity to celebrate societal changes that have improved communities and the lives of specific individuals. Entries must be written in the form of a short story with an overall word-count of 2000. The winner of this prize will receive £100 and their entry will be published on Val Wood’s website.
The Yorkshire prize is open to residents of Yorkshire only, with the theme; ’The Good Old Days’. Entries should mark a significant moment in Yorkshire history, written in the form of a short story using no more than 2000 words. The winner of the Yorkshire prize will receive £100 and, as with both categories, will be made available on Hull Libraries BorrowBox service.
Val says: “Times have changed remarkably since we began the competition and I thought this year’s entries should reflect that. With change comes a great deal of nostalgia and I tend to evoke a notion of that in my historical fiction, so I’m looking for writers who can create a similar sense into their stories, whatever genre they choose. Each year the standard of entries improves and number of entries increases, making it incredibly hard to judge but the fact that there are so many creative people who are willing and eager to enter, makes it all worthwhile.”
Jessica Leathley from Hull Libraries says:“It is always a pleasure to work with Val on this creative writing competition to encourage budding writers to give it a go. The standard of story telling never fails to amaze our panel of judges. We are particularly pleased to have added the new Yorkshire Prize last year. With entries coming in from all around the globe, we wanted to offer something special for Val’s home county.”
The creative writing competition was launched in 2013. Val became a published author after receiving the Catherine Cookson Prize for Romantic Fiction in 1993. Since then, Val has released 26 books and aims to inspire other creatives to pursue their writing careers.
The competition is open to anyone aged 16 and over, entries must be submitted on or before 5pm on 28th August 2021. The competition is supported by Hull Libraries, who have worked closely with Val in running the competition for 7 years with the contribution of The James Reckitt Library Trust.
For more information on the competition, visit valwood.co.uk.