APPLICANTS
This page is for applicants to the Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour. Please read and follow the instructions carefully.
Please note that due to a reduction in sponsorship the terms and conditions of the prize have changed significantly this year.
Entries must be works of narrative fiction or narrative non-fiction. Fiction is defined as a full-lenth work of imaginative storytelling for adults, in any genre.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
To enter this prize with a work of fiction, you will need to submit a manuscript of the first 30 pages of an original novel, as well as a 3-page maximum outline summarising the rest of the book.
Manuscripts should be submitted in MS Word document or PDF, in Times New Roman font, size 12, 1.5 spaced.
Filenames and title pages should include the applicant's name and the title of the work.
Non-fiction, short fiction, poetry and works written for children (including YA) are not eligible for entry into this prize.
Only one submission per applicant is permitted.
The submission must not, in whole or part, have been previously published, including print, ebook, self-publishing or web-publishing.
Manuscripts may be submitted under a pseudonym, but the applicant’s legal name should be included in the application itself to ensure compliance with the prize rules.
Morley College and the judges do not assert any copyright claim whatsoever over any works submitted for this prize, which remain the property of the author.
Unsuccessful applicants from previous years may resubmit works to subsequent years, but we expect that resubmissions will have been substantially revised in the intervening year.
All entries will receive an email confirming receipt within a week of submission. If you do not receive one, please contact us as your submission may have been incorrectly flagged by our spam filters. All entrants will be notified by email of whether their submission was successful or not on the release of the prize longlist.
ELIGIBILITY
In accordance with its ambition to improve access and diversity in publishing and British literature this prize is intended for unpublished writers of colour, a term defined in accordance with the terminology style guide of the Office of National Statistics as being a person of Asian, Asian British / Arab / Black, African, Caribbean or Black British / Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups, or other marginalised ethnic groups.
To be eligible an applicant must:
1) Be over the age of 18
2) Be resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland for the duration of the prize.
3) Have not previously had a novel or novella published, including self-publishing and e-publishing.
4) Not be signed with an agent at the time of application.
Applications require a personal statement of not more than 300 words for fiction. Please explain in this statement your eligibility for this prize against the criteria above. These should be attached to the final page of your entry, not sent as separate files.
Any confusion over eligibility is subject to the judges’ discretion. The decisions of the judging panel are final.
Please note that apart from those listed above, the prize places no restriction on a submission’s subject, style or setting. Entries are welcome from any genre of fiction writing, and there is no obligation for entries to be centred on or address the experiences of people of colour - these decisions are entirely up to the author. Judges will make selections based on their perceptions of the quality of the work, and not specifically on its subject.
TIMELINE
Please note that longlist and shortlist dates are approximate and subject to change.