What makes a city the kind of place where you can grow older and be an older person?

No Bindings is collaborating with Bristol Ageing Better (BAB) to explore the possible answers to this question! No Bindings is a project, started in Bristol, by Lily Green. Lily is a resident of the Pervasive Media Studio at the Watershed. She makes sound recordings and handmade books. These book-come-audio pieces are called publication-podcasts! Over the autumn months and beginning of winter, Lily will join forces with Pat Gregory, a member of BAB’s steering group. Equipped with a dictaphone, they will get to know the ins and outs of nine projects that work with and for older people in Bristol.

They will collect interviews and stories and hear what project leaders and older people have to say about how age-friendly the city is. No Bindings seeks contributors for its fourth publication-podcast! No Bindings is looking for writing and artwork related to the following themes that make a city age-friendly:

• Navigating this City
• Dignity
• Inside Spaces, Outside Spaces
• My House, My Home
• My Value
• #connected
• My Voice
• Join in the Fun and Games!
• Feeling Well

The publication and the podcasts (sound recordings) will explore the ways in which a city is, and isn’t, a place where you can grow older and be an older person.

No Bindings strongly encourages you to send in work if you are over 50 years of age. No Bindings welcomes collaborative pieces between younger people and older adults. All contributors must live in Bristol.

Writing

• Submissions must be no more than 1000 words (prose) or 50 lines (poetry).

• Fictional work and work translated from other languages into English are encouraged!

Artwork

• Please be aware, artworks will be printed in one colour (grayscale).

Deadline: 5 pm, 10th November 2017

Selected contributors will be invited to take part in a relaxed interview. The recorded content of this interview will be used in the podcasts (sound) material.

Selected contributors will be paid £150.00 for their written piece or artwork and their involvement in this project.

For more information visit the webpage: https://www.nobindings.co.uk/submit, or email: lily@nobindings.co.uk

Bournemouth University in association with if: book UK announces the seventh 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. There are five awards: Best New Media Writing, Best Student, The Dot Award, and the Gorkana Journalism Awards (new for this year).

THE PRIZES ARE:

• £1000, donated by if: book UK for the Best New Media Writing
• a 3-month paid work-placement at top e-learning company, Unicorn Training, in Dorset, UK, for the Best Student
• £500 and development support, for The Dot Prize, donated by if: book UK for the best idea for a new project
• £500 for the Gorkana Journalism Award, UK category
• £500 for the Gorkana Journalism Award, International category

The judging panels 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 Wednesday, November 30th, 2016 at 12 noon GMT. Closing date for students is Friday, December 16th at 12 noon GMT. Entry details can be found on the New Media Writing Prize website.

Shortlisted entrants will be invited to the awards ceremony on the 18^th January 2017 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 the high profile new media web-hub, The Literary Platform, the Bournemouth University website and will be showcased at the Awards Ceremony in January 2017.

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