Winners of Creative Future Writers Award Announced
Grief, male sexuality, the plight of pets in Covid-stricken Wuhan and Scottish teenagers’ love lives are amongst the themes of the twelve winning entries of the Creative Future Writers’ Award, announced today (Tuesday 28th July).
Now in its seventh year, the prize celebrates exceptional writing from under-represented writers, who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, identity, health or social circumstance. Across two categories, prose and poetry, the judges recognised the hugely impressive achievements of twelve writers, with the most outstanding work in each category awarded Platinum, and the ten other works awarded Gold, Silver, Bronze, Highly Commended and Commended.
Prose:
Platinum – Olive by Michele Powponne
Gold – Noses by Seren Thomas
Silver – The Hole by Heenali Patel
Bronze – Leftovers by Laura Leung-How
Highly Commended – You Will Have Heard of the Vet of Wuhan by Tabitha Bast
Commended – The Scottish Netball Youth Cup, 2nd Round Play-Off by Tom Ward
Poetry:
Platinum – Male Nudes by George Platt Lynes by Alex Matraxia
Gold – eating orange peel is an act against god by
Chloe Elliott
Silver – Rain Journal by Ellie Jackson
Bronze – In the autumn, the barman and I visit Eden by Helen Bowell
Highly Commended – Noises by Tierney Elliott
Commended – The Long View by John Whitehouse
Leading the winners are Michele Powponne, a mental health and social worker who has won
Platinum prize for prose with Olive, an account of a ‘sent woman’ who travelled to London for marriage from the Caribbean; and Alex Matraxia, a London-based poet, who has won the Platinum prize for poetry with Male Nudes by George Platt Lynes, a touching exploration of male sexuality and vulnerability.
The other prize winners include Heenali Patel, a professional Tarot card reader and women’s rights campaigner (Silver, Prose); Laura Leung-How (Bronze, Prose), who has previously been shortlisted for the Penguin Random House Write Now competition; British- Malaysian-Chinese poet Chloe Elliot (Gold, Poetry) and Dead [Women] Poets Society co-founder Helen Bowell (Bronze, Poetry).
Judge Kerry Hudson, the award-winning author of Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, said: “The Creative Future Writers’ Award is one of the highlights of the annual literary calendar as far as I am concerned. It does what a prize for emerging writers should - discovers astounding new talent that might otherwise go unrecognised. This year the entries were incredibly diverse but what connected them all was the high, high quality of the prose and entirely unique perspectives on themes. If this list is any indication the future of writing is bright!”
The full list of winners is:
Fellow judge, award-winning poet Anthony Anaxagorou, said: “It was a joy to read for this year’s Creative Future Award. To see the range of poetry and fiction which was submitted, all so unique and bold in the ways the work approached the theme of Tomorrow. Some of the writing contained flashes of hope and understanding, others were more abstract and critical in the way they perceived Tomorrow. What the winning pieces showed was a compelling conviction in the belief and power of the words and a need to resonate with a wide and discerning readership.”
Jane McMorrow, the Director of Creative Future, said: “This year we received 1400 entries from across the country to our 2020 Creative Future Writers’ Award competition — our highest number of submissions since the awards began in 2013. The quality of the work submitted was exceptional and we are thrilled to offer our 12 outstanding winners a unique range of development prizes. There is an abundance of talent in this group of emerging writers. We are delighted to have found such brilliant new voices and are eager to continue working with them to develop their writing careers.”
Established in 2007, Creative Future is a Brighton-based arts organisation supporting some of the UK’s most talented under-represented artists. The annual Writers’ Award is a development programme alongside the country’s only free national competition aimed at under-represented writers. Awards include £10,000 of cash and top writing development prizes supplied by prominent publishers and development agencies. Alongside the competition, a high-profile awards ceremony would usually be held featuring the winning writers and prominent guest authors – in 2019, it was at the Southbank Centre as part of the London Literature Festival. Winning submissions are also published in an anthology alongside work by the guest authors, available in hard copy and as an e-book. The 2020 anthology is now available to pre-order from the Creative Future website.
Previous winners include Jarred McGinnis, whose new memoir will be publishes by Canongate in 2021; Romalyn Ante, whose debut poetry collection is published by Chatto and Windus in July 2020; Kirsty Capes whose debut novel will be published by Orion in 2021; Michelle Perkins, who was this year awarded the National Centre for Writing Inaugural Laura Kinsella Fellowship, and Natalie Linh Bolderston, who went on to win the Eric Gregory Poetry Prize 2020.
Kerry Hudson, Anthony Anaxagorou, editorial consultant Aki Schilz, poet Sarala Estruch and Creative Future’s 2020 Writer in Residence Akila Richards made up the judging panel for the 2020 award.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors About Creative Future Established in 2007, Creative Future is an arts organisation supporting some of the UK’s most talented under-represented artists. Our mission is to make the arts more diverse and representative of the world we live in. Based in Brighton, we work nationally with underrepresented artists of all kinds with a particular specialism in working with writers. We provide skills training, mentoring, promoting and publishing opportunities to talented writers who lack access to opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, identity or social circumstances. We are unique in the breadth of people we work with and the depth in which we work with them.
The Creative Future Writers’ Award was established in 2013, and is an annual writing development programme that includes the only free national competition for all under-represented writers.
Since 2013 the CFWA has delivered:
• 6 national workshop programm es engaging 675 writers
• 6 writing competitions with over 3700 entries
• Awarded prizes to 72 writers many have gone on to publish, win further awards & establish careers
• Published 6 sold-out anthologies
• Presented 6 awards showcases at the Charleston, London & Birmingham Literature Festivals
• In 2019 we presented a free Writers Day at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in partnership with the London Literature Festival
• Supported 6 emerging Writers in Residence
• Awarded £60k cash/professional development prizes
About the writers
Michele Powponne lives and works in Surrey after an early life spent in West Africa, Europe and the US. She has worked in both mental health services and social work, working with women escaping domestic violence as well as academia and undertaken research into black women’s experience of mental health recovery. She currently facilitates creative writing courses for both Surrey and Borders Recovery College and Mary Frances Trust and is Lead Governor representing service users for SABP. She enjoys laughing at every given opportunity with her large and noisy family. She also loves Ray Charles and Stormzy and looks forward to being 60.
Seren Thomas is a non-binary writer from South Wales. They currently work in the health and care sector, and in particular they are advocating to improve eating disorder services, research and recognition for LGBTQIA+ people. Some of their favourite things include poetry, going to greasy spoons and long walks around London. Instagram: @serentheheron Twitter: @SerenThomas_
Heenali Patel is currently travelling the south of England to explore British folklore and magic. She is also a professional Tarot card reader, journalist and women’s rights campaigner. Her previous work has been published in REWRITE Reads and shortlisted for the UK Writer ’s Retreat Short Story Prize 2019. She is now working on a collection of stories bringing together the mundane and the mystical, told through the strange and wonderful voices of misfit British Asians. Read more of her work or get in touch via www.heenalipatel. com.
Laura Leung-How is currently penning her first novel, which was shortlisted for the Penguin Random House WriteNow competition in 2018. When not writing, she can be found running around North West London where she grew up, and occasionally stopping to take pictures with cats.
Tabitha Bast lives with a child and a cat in a cooperative community in inner-city Leeds, and works as a psychosexual therapist. Writings range from political articles to fictional short stories. Previous work includes Eclectica Magazine, Plan C, and Novara Media online, and in print Shift, Dysophia, and a chapter in a book Occupy Everything. Won first prize with Grist publisher anthology Protest, longlisted for the Walter Swann Short story Prize and honourable mention with Literary Taxidermy Short Story Competition 2018.
Tom Ward lives in London without any pets and writes poetry and fiction. He is working on his first novel. He can be found online @ouwlse
Alex Matraxia is a London-based poet and filmmaker, interested in the poetics of queer identity, as well as using the city as a site for both anonymous and intimate experience. Their poetry has previously appeared in The ISIS Magazine and The Oxford Review of Books. They are the co-editor of Sect_Viscera, a queer arts magazine launched in East London (2019), and they’re also the recipient of the Martin Starkie Memorial Prize for Poetry (2018).
Chloe Elliott is a British/Malaysian-Chinese poet based in Durham where she is currently studying English Literature. There, she is President of the Poetry Society where helps facilitate workshops and run spoken-word events. She is the winner of the 2019 Timothy Corsellis Prize, has work forthcoming in Bad Betty’s 2020 Survival Anthology, and is a member of the Writing Squad.
Ellie Jackson writes poetry and fiction. She is interested in the emotional experience of mental health, gender, class, language (and other things). She has an MSc in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh, a BA in English from the University of Cambridge, and a few scattered publications. She works for Nourishing Change, a collective combatting food poverty and instability in Edinburgh. Instagram: @elliejacksonpoetry
Helen Bowell is a poet and arts administrator based in London. She is a co-founder of Dead [Women] Poets Society, and a graduate of The Writing Squad. She has been a London Library Emerging Writer, a London Writers Awardee, a member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective and a commended Foyle Young Poet. Her work has appeared in Ambit, The Fenland Reed, Strix, Harana Poetry, Introduction X: The Poetry Business Book of New Poets (2017) and elsewhere. She works at The Poetry Society.
Tierney Elliott is a Bath based spoken word poet and short story writer. Entering her fourth year of performing, she has so far performed in and around Bath and Bristol, Shambala Festival 2018, at Unislam 2019--where she won an individual award for her poetry about mental health, the Roundhouse Slam 2019, where she was placed fourth and became the first ever “audience winner ”, and most recently at Bristol’s Lyra Poetry festival, where she competed in the annual slam, and won. Tierney’s poetry explores everything from social injustice to personal grief, from sex to heartbreak, and she prides herself on her uncomfortable combination of explicit honesty, humour and melancholy.
John Whitehouse lives in London, and he is a retired academic who taught writing and poetry and media. He was a copywriter before becoming a teacher. He has a PhD: Poetry as a Mode of Disclosure, and his poetry has been in Interpreters’ House, Orbis, Frogmore Papers, Snakeskin, Obsessed with Pipework, Other Poetry. His poetry has been recommended in Poetry Life 2003. His short story, Unaccustomed as I am won joint first prize in the 2019 HISSAC writing competition. He has been long-listed for the HISSAC short story prize in 2016 and 2017, and took part in a mentoring scheme run by the award-winning author Clio Gray.
