New Writers Awards

The Scottish Book Trust do amazing work with readers and writers in Scotland so it was great to be back working with them again to shoot portraits of the winners of this years New Writers Awards.

The New Writers Awards is an annual awards programme supporting individuals committed to developing their writing. It began in 2009 and in 2010 incorporated two Gaelic New Writers Awards in association with the Gaelic Books Council. 2013 saw the introduction of an additional space on the programme thanks to the Callan Gordon Award for short story writers or poets aged between 18 and 35. The Callan Gordon Award runs every two years.

Awardees receive a £2,000 cash award, allowing them to focus on their work, as well as a tailored package which can include mentoring from writers and industry professionals; training in PR; performance and presentation training; and the opportunity to showcase work to publishers and agents. The awards also include a week-long retreat, offering time, space and the freedom to create new work in idyllic surroundings.

A number of our awardees have been published by major houses including HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Harvill Secker, Atlantic Books, Vintage Books, Freight Books and Sandstone Press. Awardees have also been shortlisted for prestigious awards, including The Booker Prizes, as well as winning awards such as Manchester Fiction Prize and The Dundee International Book Prize.

Photographed in Edinburgh’s Old Town around Cranston Street.