The first ever UK competition to find the best new examples of popular digital fiction has been launched by Sheffield Hallam University and Bangor University.

The Opening Up Digital Fiction Writing Competition, run by Sheffield Hallam University and Bangor University, and part of the AHRC-funded Reading Digital Fiction project, is inviting entries from people across the UK and in two languages – English and Welsh.

Digital fictions are different to e-books and are known as ‘born digital’, as they would lose some of their form and meaning if they were removed from the digital medium.

Digital fictions require the reader to interact with the narrative throughout the reading experience. This may include hyperlinks, moving images, mini-games or sound effects. In many digital fictions, the reader has a role in constructing the narrative by controlling a character’s journey through the story.

Hypertexts, text-adventure games, multimedia stories, interactive video, literary games, and some mobile apps are all examples of types of digital fiction.

There are five prizes up for grabs in the competition – Judges’ Prize, People’s Choice, Welsh Language Prize*, Student Prize and Children’s Story Prize.

Winners will receive a cash prize, publication on the Reading Digital Fiction website, and a series of mentoring meetings with select judges on a future digital fiction project.

Dr Alice Bell, a reader in the Humanities department at Sheffield Hallam University, is running the Reading Digital Fiction project with Dr Lyle Skains from Bangor University, a practitioner-researcher in digital fiction in the School of Creative Studies and Media.

Dr Bell said: “There is a new generation of readers and writers who see digital media as a dynamic and genuinely immersive means of experiencing fiction. We’re trying to capture that within the Reading Digital Fiction project by engaging with established audiences as well as introducing more readers to this form of storytelling.

“The competition is designed to expand digital fiction readership to include a broader segment of the public and is open all writers – from rookies to veterans – and all types of digital fiction. We’re keen to see entries that will be accessible to different audiences compatible across different devices.”

Dr Skains said: “As a writer of digital fiction, I’m excited to see the public engage more with it, and to see more popular forms emerging from this engagement. Our judges, too, have expressed a keen interest in seeing what digital fiction can do once it hits the mainstream. We’re really pleased to have such high profile judges join the panel, from very popular digital fiction writers to Welsh-language researchers in digital media and creativity.”

Click here for more information on the competition or to submit an entry.

*(Welsh language entries are eligible for all prize categories).

Bournemouth University in association with if: book UK announces the sixth annual New Media Writing Prize, now open for entries

The competition encourages writers working with digital media to showcase their skills. It also aims to provoke discussion and raise awareness of new-media storytelling. The prize has four categories: Overall Winner, Best Student, the People’s Choice, and The Dot Prize (new for this year).

THE PRIZES ARE:

• £1000, donated by if:book UK for the Overall Winner
• a 3-month paid work-placement at top e-learning company, Unicorn Training, in Dorset, UK, for the Best Student
• £500 for the People’s Choice, voted for by the reading public, donated by Sea Salt Learning
• £500 and development support, for The Dot Prize, donated by if:book UK for the best idea for a new project

The judging panel are looking for great storytelling (fiction or non-fiction) written specifically for delivery and reading/viewing on a PC or Mac, or a hand-held device such as an iPad or mobile phone. It could be a short story, novel, documentary or poem, using words, images, film or animation with audience interactivity.

Whether you’re a student, a professional, or simply an enthusiast, anyone can apply. It’s an international competition, open to all outside the UK. Entries must be in English.

The deadline is Friday November 27th 2015 at 12 noon GMT. Closing date for students is Friday December 11th at 12 noon GMT. Each entry should be submitted by email.

Shortlisted entrants will be invited to the awards ceremony on the 20^th January 2016 where the winner will be announced. There will be substantial media coverage for the Awards, and winners will be given full acknowledgement in all press releases and related material.

An esteemed panel of judges will select winning entries which will be published on high profile new media web-hub, The Literary Platform, the Bournemouth University website and will be showcased at the Awards Ceremony.

For full details on what we are looking for, and how to enter, please visit the New Media Writing Prize website.

The fourth annual New Media Writing Prize, run by Bournemouth University’s Media School, is now open for entries. 

The competition encourages writers working with new media to showcase their skills. It also aims to provoke discussion and raise awareness of new media writing, the future of the ‘written’ word and storytelling.

The prize has three categories: Overall Winner, Best Student and the People’s Choice.

The prizes are:

• £1000, donated by if:book UK for the Overall Winner

• a 3-month paid work-placement at top e-learning company, Unicorn Training, in Dorset, UK, for the Best Student

• £250 for the People’s Choice, voted for by the reading public

The judging panel are looking for great storytelling (fiction or non-fiction) written specifically for delivery and reading/viewing on a PC or Mac, or a hand-held device such as an iPad or mobile phone. It could be a short story, novel, documentary or poem using words, images, film or animation with audience interaction.

Whether you’re a student, a professional, or simply an enthusiast, anyone can apply. It’s an international competition, open to all outside the UK.

The deadline is Monday November 25th at 12 noon GMT. Closing date for students is Friday December 13th at 12 noon GMT. Each entry should be submitted by email tosubmissions@newmediawritingprize.co.uk.

Shortlisted entrants will be invited to the awards ceremony on the 22nd January 2014 where the winner will be announced. There will be substantial media coverage for the Awards, and winners will be given full acknowledgement in all press releases and related material.

An esteemed panel of judges will select winning entries which will be published on high profile new media web-hub, The Literary Platform, the Bournemouth University website and will be showcased at the Awards Ceremony.

For full details on what we are looking for, and how to enter, please visit the New Media Writing Prize website.