Congratulations to Naomi Thomas Northern Writers Award 2020
We are delighted that Naomi Thomas of Sheffield Young Writers has been Highly Commended in the Young Northern Writers Award 2020 for her short fiction. Naomi will receive ongoing support from New Writing North, including future opportunities for developing her writing.
Naomi said: “This award has encouraged me to take myself seriously as a writer. The fact that other people have enjoyed my work has made me feel much more confident in exploring what I’m passionate about in my writing, and using the styles that excite me, rather than doing what I think will ‘look good’. I’m so grateful for such an incredible opportunity to have my stories recognised, and for the time and dedication that Nik and Vicky at Hive have put into supporting me and getting me here.”
Mentor Nik Perring said: “We’re absolutely thrilled for Naomi! This is thoroughly deserved. With her ability to generate amazing and intriguing ideas and turn them into delightful and affecting stories, she has a very bright future ahead of her.”
The Northern Writers Awards Scheme is a talent development programme recognising unpublished, work-in-progress by new and established writers from across the North of England. The scheme worth around £40,00 and now in its 21st year, is run by New Writing North with funding from Arts Council England and support from Northumbria University.
Congratulations to all Northern Writer Award winners 2020!
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Naomi Thomas is a 17-year-old writer and committed member of Sheffield Young Writers. She won two Sheffield-based short story competitions in 2014 and 2016. In 2019 she was highly commended in the Forward Arts Foundation/EMC e-magazine Creative Critics Competition and Hive Young Writers competition. Hannah’s story Breakfast was published in Hive anthology Surfing the Twilight and she has work forthcoming in Sheffield Hallam University’s Matter journal. She is a new recruit of the Writing Squad.
More about the Northern Writers Award
The Northern Writers’ Awards is an innovative and progressive talent development programme, which supports writers to achieve their creative ambitions at all stages of their careers. This year the awards attracted over 1,200 entries. The awards recognise unpublished work-in-progress by new and established writers in the North of England.
The Northern Writers’ Awards are produced by New Writing North with funding from Arts Council England and support from Northumbria University, Channel 4 and North East Chamber of Commerce.
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New Writing North is the reading and writing development agency for the north of England, and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. It works in partnership with regional and national partners to produce a range of literary and performance activities including flagship projects such as the Northern Writers’ Awards, Read Regional, Cuckoo Young Writers, the Gordon Burn Prize, the David Cohen Prize for Literature and Durham Book Festival. www.newwritingnorth.com
About Northumbria University
Northumbria University, Newcastle is a research-rich, business-focused, professional university with a global reputation for academic excellence. Complementing its work with New Writing North and Channel 4, the University works with a range of high profile cultural partners, including BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Live Theatre, Great North Run Culture and Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums providing students with industry exposure and live project opportunities. We were awarded the Times Higher Education Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts in 2012, as well as the Journal’s Culture Award for Best Arts and Business Partnership in 2013. Northumbria University’s Art and Design courses were ranked Top 10 in the UK for Research Power following the Research Excellence Framework 2014 and the University was ranked Top 50 in the UK – its highest ever league table position – in the Guardian University League Table 2017. www.northumbria.ac.uk