The Blacktown Mayoral Creative Writing Prize is back for 2022 and Blacktown City Mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM is encouraging all budding writers to get tapping away at their keyboards.
Entries in the 2022 Prize are now open to adults and children aged 8 years and above who live in Blacktown City.
The total prize pool for this year’s competition is $1600 and writers are asked to submit works on the theme ‘What now?’.
Mayor Bleasdale said, “The Mayoral Creative Writing Prize is a wonderful opportunity for writers of all ages to tap away at their keyboards or put pen to paper, and get creative with poems or short stories.
“We all know just how challenging the past 2 and a half years have been, as we have faced the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and new ways of living.
“There have been significant changes in many areas of our lives, and this year’s Prize asks entrants to reflect on these changes and what may come next.”
Blacktown City Libraries will host writing workshops at Max Webber Library on Saturday, 20 August, from 10am, to guide writers with their work. The workshops will be held across three age groups (8-11 years, 12-14 years and 15 years and over), with mentors on hand to assist.
The Mayoral Creative Writing Prize is run in partnership with WestWords, an organisation which celebrates and champions the stories of Western Sydney.
Submissions in the Prize can be either a poem or short story, but must be works of fiction.
Works will be judged on originality, construction, the use of language, (including creative expression, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling), development of character, atmosphere or setting, creative use of language and how the entry relates to the theme.
Entries are open in the following age categories: 8-11 years, 12-14 years, 15-17 years and adult (18+).
Adult winners will receive $200, while winners aged 17 years or younger will receive $100, and the teacher/teacher librarian who supported them will also receive $100.
Entries will close at midnight on 3 October, 2022. An awards presentation will be held at Max Webber Library in December.
For full details, visit: www.westwords.com.au/project/2022-blacktown-mayoral-creative-writing-prize-what-now/
Photo: Blacktown City Mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM with 2020 Blacktown Mayoral Creative Writing Prize Highly Commended recipient (8-11 years) Erika Mercado.
