The Muslim Writers Award, an initiative coming out of Birmingham City Council which had its inaugural ceremony in April, goes national in 2008.
The idea of the project is to assist and nurture emerging writers and get them published. We are looking at the writers creative talent – not their religious beliefs. The Awards were televised and went out to 150+ countries and we hope to reach as many new writers (and readers!) as possible.
The categories for the 2008 Awards are:
* Non Fiction
* Short Story
* Novel Award
* Poetry Award
* Under 16s
* Best Children’s Story
* Best New Writer of the Year
* Best Published Writer (to be nominated by publishers)
The 2008 Judges include Randa Abdel Fattah (author of Does My Head Look Big in This?), Emma Hargrave (Managing Editor of Tindal St Press), Bloomsbury publishers and Sunny Hundal (Editor of Asians in the Media).
Alongside the awards there’s also a support program including, editing support, creative writing courses and master classes, networking opportunities, support in finding publishers and more.
The deadline for submissions is December 28th and all the details are here.