‘Barnsley Bard’ Elena Barham wins BBC Young Writers’ Award 2022 Elena Barham, a 19-year-old University of Sheffield student from Barnsley, has won the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2022 with Cambridge University (YWA) for ‘Little Acorns’, a 1940s-set story which explores gender, familial relationships, loss and abuse. The news was announced live on BBC Radio 4 […]
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Atlas Weyland Eden wins BBC YOUNG WRITERS’ AWARD 2023
Atlas Weyland Eden, an 18-year-old home-schooled writer and poet from Devon, has won the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2023 with Cambridge University (YWA) for ‘The Wordsmith’, a story of an otherworldly craftsman who hammers words into being. The news was announced live on BBC Radio 4 Front Row this evening (Tuesday 26 September) during a […]
Continue ReadingThe 2023 BBC NSSA and YWA Awards – Submissions Open!
The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) and BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University (YWA) open for submissions Thursday 12 January 2023 at 9am with BBC News journalist and presenter Reeta Chakrabarti chairing the judging panel for the BBC NSSA’s 18th year. Reeta Chakrabarti, Chair of the 2023 BBC National Short […]
Continue ReadingThe shortlist for the 2022 BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University (YWA) has been announced!
Now in its eighth year, the BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University challenges young people in the UK aged between 14-18 years to submit stories of up to 1,000 words. The 2022 shortlist was revealed on Life Hacks, on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday, 25 September 2022. The 2022 BBC Young Writers’ Award shortlist […]
Continue ReadingYWA Judges Announced
Meet the judges Katie Thistleton (Chair of Judges) (Pictured centre) Katie Thistleton is a TV and radio presenter, NCTJ qualified journalist and published author and is best known for her work on BBC Radio 1 and CBBC. Katie presented CBBC’s live continuity on CBBC HQ for over 6 years and also hosted the CBBC Book […]
Continue ReadingSubmissions open for 2022 BBC National Short Story and BBC Young Writers’ Awards
The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) and BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University (YWA) open for submissions at 9am on Thursday 13th January 2022 with award-winning novelist, journalist and broadcaster Elizabeth Day chairing the judging panel for the BBC NSSA, an award that has enriched both the careers of […]
Continue ReadingWinner of the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2021: Tabitha Rubens
Tabitha Rubens, 19, from London, has won the BBC Young Writers’ Award 2021 with Cambridge University (YWA) for ‘Super-Powder’, a story written after the winter lockdown when young people were struggling with their mental health and self-esteem. Exposing modern society’s exploitation of insecurities for profit, the story was praised by the judges for its ‘spirit […]
Continue ReadingWinner of the Young Writers’ Award 2020 Announced: Lottie Mills
Lottie Mills, 19, from Hertfordshire, has won the 2020 BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University (YWA) for ‘The Changeling’, a story inspired by ‘otherhood’ and her frustration with ‘how difference, especially disability, is represented in fiction’.
A second-year student at Cambridge University, Lottie, who has Cerebral Palsy, was previously shortlisted for the Award in 2018. Praised by judge and YA Book Prize winner Will Hill as ‘heartbreakingly well-written’, her story reclaims the myth of the ‘changeling’ and transforms it from something used to persecute and exclude, into a magical, fantastical fable about a girl’s extraordinary coming of age.
Lottie Mills said:
“My previous shortlist experience really fuelled my writing. Hearing so many amazing people – the judges, the representatives from the University and First Story, and of course, the BBC – praise my writing – had a huge impact on me, and for the first time a career as a writer seemed to be a realistic prospect. As a disabled person, my stories are quite often preoccupied with ideas of otherhood, based around characters who are outcast from their society in some way or another. I had been researching fairy-related myths for a university essay and when I came across the idea of ‘changelings’, it really stuck in my mind – especially the modern theory that children suspected of being these fairy imposters were actually displaying symptoms of various disabilities. I really wanted to write a story which would show the strengths of disabled people or people who are ‘othered’ in some way, rather than portraying them as disadvantaged and in need of ‘fixing’ as so many stories do.”
The news was announced this evening during a special short story edition of BBC Radio 4 Front Row (Tuesday 6 October). ‘The Changeling’, and a further four shortlisted stories, are available to listen to via the Short Works podcast on the BBC Sounds app and the BBC Radio 1 website. Lottie will be interviewed about her win on Radio 1’s Life Hacks on Sunday 11 October, and will be mentored by award-winning YA author and Judge Will Hill.
Katie Thistleton, BBC Radio 1 presenter and Chair of Judges for BBC YWA 2020 said:
“We were blown away by ‘The Changeling’, it’s simply beautiful. I love the way it uses fairy mythology to tell a story about difference, disability, acceptance and coming of age. We had no idea that Lottie, who has been shortlisted for the Award before, was the writer when we chose the winner, but it shows what an incredible talent she is. I’m so happy she has won and is considering a career as an author after being inspired by the Young Writers’ Award.”
Lottie beat stiff competition from Maleeha Faruki, 18, from Leicester for ‘Winds that Travel Across’; Mei Kawagoe, 15, from Leicestershire for ‘Three Pomegranate Seeds’; Ben Marshall, 18, from Otford, Kent for ‘Bingo Tuesdays’ and Naomi Thomas, 17, from Sheffield for ‘The Battle of Trafalgar Square’.
All five shortlisted writers attended a virtual workshop on Saturday 29th October designed to develop their writing skills and inspire them to consider different career paths within the arts. The session included personalised feedback for each writer from the YWA Judges, and covered how to take stories from page to broadcast with BBC Audio producers, a close reading of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own led by Cambridge University’s Dr Lisa Mullen, and an interactive creative writing activity with YA author and Judge Muhammad Khan based on a Pixar short animation. Their work is also published in an anthology.
Antonia Byatt, CEO, First Story, said:
“Congratulations to Lottie Mills for such an extraordinarily powerful and beautifully crafted story. ‘The Changeling’ challenges us to look beyond our own expectations and boundaries. Lottie’s writing is a superb flight of the imagination for a world now even more narrowed down for so many of us; it opens a door onto a wider, more tolerant view. It really is the right story at the right time. The judges had an immensely difficult task choosing from such a very strong shortlist; congratulations to all this year’s young writers and I urge everyone to read their fantastic stories.”
Now in its sixth year, The BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University has quickly built a reputation for discovering the literary stars of the future with one of Lottie’s fellow 2018 award cohort, Reyah Martin, winning the 2020 Canada/Europe Commonwealth Short Story Prize aged just 20. Open to all writers between the ages of 13–18 years at the time of entry, the Award is a cross-network collaboration between BBC Radio 4 and Radio 1.
Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills, Fellow in English at Robinson College and Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said:
“I am delighted to congratulate Lottie Mills on her winning story, from a diverse and exciting shortlist. ‘The Changeling’ is an astonishing, moving and important story in which grief and pain are transfigured and difference is rendered magical. Lottie’s prose is remarkable for its subtle economy; as in all the greatest short stories, carefully chosen details open up a whole beautiful life, a whole convincing and complex mother-daughter relationship. Drawing on folklore and fable, Lottie’s story is nonetheless entirely contemporary – a particularly fitting winner in a year when issues of marginalisation and representation are increasingly receiving the critical attention they deserve. Lottie was inspired to apply to Cambridge after a visit she made to the University as a shortlisted writer for the 2018 Award. It is clear that her journey as a writer, and as a student, has been shaped by the Young Writers’ Award, and we are very proud of her achievement.”
All five shortlisted stories can be read and listened to online at: www.bbc.co.uk/ywa
Submissions Open for Short Story Awards 2020 as judges are announced for 15th Anniversary year
Award-winning journalist and author JONATHAN FREEDLAND and broadcaster KATIE THISTLETON to chair 2020 BBC Short Story Award panels that include ‘Everyday Sexism Project’ founder LAURA BATES; award-winning YA writer MUHAMMAD KHAN; previous BBC NSSA shortlisted writer LUCY […]
Continue ReadingCelebrated young poet, Georgie Woodhead wins 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award with short story about a night out clubbing, friendship and guilt
Georgie Woodhead, 16, from Sheffield has won the 2019 BBC Young Writers’ Award with First Story and Cambridge University (YWA) for ‘Jelly-headed’, a tragi-comic story about an ill-fated night out that ends in devastating circumstances on a nightclub roof. A gripping story about friendship, moral dilemma, and the absurdity of life, it was praised by […]
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