Stormzy’s #Merky Books launches second annual New Writers’ Prize
Entries can be submitted from today (September 14)
by Will RichardsStormzy‘s #Merky Books has announced its second annual New Writers’ Prize.
Launched last year, the prize aims to discover underrepresented writers from ages 16-30 in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
“I know too many talented writers that don’t always have an outlet or a means to get their work seen and hopefully #Merky Books can now be a reference point for them to say ‘I can be an author’ and for that to be a realistic and achievable goal,” Stormzy said of the prize.
“Reading and writing as a kid was integral to where I am today and I from the bottom of my heart cannot wait to hear your stories and get them out into the big wide world.”
Entries for the prize are open now and can be submitted online here. Judges on the panel include Stormzy himself, comedian Guz Khan, author Candice Brathwaite and Olympian Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Back in July, a #MerkyBooks novel won the Desmond Elliott book prize. Derek Owusu’s That Reminds Me follows the life of a boy called K from foster care to moving in with his birth family in Tottenham.
Stormzy recently announced that he plans to donate £500,000 to fund higher education for disadvantaged students. The rapper’s donation has been made to the Black Heart Foundation.
It follows plans the rapper announced in June to give away £10m over a decade to benefit organisations that are taking major steps in fighting racial inequality across the UK.