29 September 2015

OPPORTUNITY: New Media Writing Prize 2015 [Deadline: 27th Nov, 11th Dec]






The New Media Writing Prize showcases exciting and inventive stories that integrate a variety of formats, platforms, and digital media. This international prize is now in its 6th year.

The prize encourages and promotes the best in new media writing and is leading the way toward the future of the ‘written’ word and storytelling. In the past five years, the NMWP has attracted entries from the very best and most innovative writers in the field.

There are four categories/prizes for 2015 -

1. Main Prize: £1000 donated by if:book UK.

2. Student Prize: 3 months paid internship at Unicorn Training, Bournemouth, UK, working with Unicorn’s writing and design team.

3. The Dot Award: £500 to get a new project started. Donated by if:book UK. Click here for more info

4. People’s Choice Prize: a cheque for £500. Donated by SeaSalt Learning. The winner chosen by the voting public.

When Is The Deadline?

Main Prize and Dot award Friday 27th November 2015 by 12 noon GMT; Student Prize Friday 11th December 2015 12 noon GMT. Shortlisted entrants will be invited to the Awards Ceremony, Wednesday January 20th 2016 at Bournemouth University. Winners will be announced at the ceremony. Click here for more details.
What Are We Looking For?

Main Prize and Student Prize: We are looking for good storytelling (fiction or non-fiction) written specifically for delivery and reading/viewing on a PC or Mac, the web, or a hand-held device such as an iPad or mobile phone. It could be a short story, novel, poem, documentary or transmedia work using words, images, film or animation with audience interaction. Interactivity is a key element of new-media storytelling.

We are looking for creativity, so try to be imaginative to create an engaging story i.e. combining any number of media elements, such as words on a screen combined with images and video clips. New media writing can be created using a variety of tools i.e. a word processor, DV camera, social networking tools (i.e. Twitter), mobile phone/s, a scanner, Augmented Reality software – anything goes!

The Dot Award: The prize will be awarded for a project idea which, in the judges’ opinion, shows promise and practicability – and could be completed by the end of 2016. For the Dot Award we are looking for projects which aren’t necessarily technically complex but do create original and exciting literary work inspired by the affordances of the web, blogs, apps, social media etc. Chris Meade and if:book UK will liaise with the winner to support the project, which will be showcased at the 2016 New Media Writing Prize award ceremony (TBA but probably January 2017).
What We’re NOT Looking For:

We are not looking for a text-only story/poem which you can upload to a web page or place on a disc.

We are not looking for screens of words uploaded to your blog, and we are not looking for a slideshow of photos uploaded to Flickr or a video uploaded to YouTube.

Get the idea? The essence of new-media writing for us is great storytelling which uses anything and everything that digital media can offer, along with user/audience interactivity. It’s got to be something that couldn’t work in ‘old’ media.

What Are The Judging Criteria?

The judges will be looking for the following:

1. Innovative use of new (digital) media/transmedia to create an engaging, satisfying narrative, or poem, or as-yet-unspecified form. Fiction or non-fiction.

2. Ease of accessibility for the reader/viewer.

3. Effective use of interactive elements.

4. A great example of how new media can do things traditional media can’t.

5. The potential to reach out to a wide audience (i.e. not just specialist interest groups).

For the Competition Rules, please click here.

Who Can Apply?

Anyone can apply! Whether you’re a student, a professional, an artist, a writer, a developer, a designer or an enthusiast, the competition is open to all. It’s also an international competition, open to all outside the UK. For the Competitions Rules click here.

How Do I Submit My Work?

Each entry for the MAIN prize should be submitted by email to entries2015@newmediawritingprize.co.uk by Friday 27th November 2015 by 12 noon GMT. Closing date for students is Friday 11th December 2015 by 12 noon GMT.

Each emailed entry should contain an active URL for the judges to access your work. However, if your entry is for viewing on a mobile phone, wearable, or other electronic device, please provide clear instructions on how to view your piece.


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