Bournemouth University 2020 New Media Writing Prize for Students and Professionals (UK)

Bournemouth University Media and Communication Faculty has opened applications the ninth year of its annual international celebration on New-Media storytelling – New Media Writing Prize.

The New Media Writing Prize showcases exciting and inventive stories that integrate a variety of formats, platforms, and digital media.

The prize encourages and promotes the best in new media writing and is leading the way toward the future of the ‘written’ word and storytelling. In the past six years, the NMWP has attracted entries from the very best and most innovative writers in the field. For the 2019 competition there will be four prizes: The if:book UK New Media Writing Award, the Unicorn Student Award, the Dot Award, and the Digital Journalism Award.

Get the idea? The essence of new-media writing is great storytelling which uses anything and everything that digital media can offer, along with user/audience interactivity. It’s got to be something that couldn’t work in ‘old’ media.

Categories: 

• The if:book New Media Writing Prize: £1000 donated by if:book UK.
• The Unicorn Student Prize: 3 months paid internship (or £500 in cash if the winner cannot undertake the placement) at Unicorn Training, Bournemouth, UK, working with Unicorn’s writing and design team.
• The Dot Award: £500 to get develop a new project. Donated by if:book UK. Click here for more info
• The Gorkana Journalism Award, donated by Gorkana. Two awards: the UK award, and the International award, both £500 for the winner.

• Table of Content
• About Bournemouth University
• New Media Writing Prize
• Aim and Benefits of New Media Writing Prize
• Requirements for New Media Writing Prize Qualification
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Bournemouth University

Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, Dorset, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s

New Media Writing Prize

Aim and Benefits of New Media Writing Prize

• Unicorn Training Student Award: £750 donated by Unicorn Training, where the winner satisfies point d. of clause 7.
•  if:book UK New Media Writing Prize: £1000 donated by if:book UK, where the winner may also be a student, i.e. satisfies point d. of clause 7.
• The Journalism Award: £tbc for the winner, where the winner may also be a student, i.e. satisfies point d. of clause 7
• The Dot Award: £500 and development support, offered by if:book UK, where the winner may also be a student, i.e. satisfies point d. of clause 7.
• The Skylab Innovation Award, £500, where the winner may also be a student, i.e. satisfies point d. of clause 7.

Requirements for New Media Writing Prize Qualification

• Anyone can apply! Whether you’re a student, a professional, an artist, a writer, a developer, a designer or an enthusiast, the competition is open to all.
• It’s also an international competition, open to all outside the UK.
• Entries do need to be in English.

The Dot Award: The prize will be awarded for a project idea which, in the judges’ opinion, shows promise and practicability. For the Dot Award we are looking for projects which aren’t necessarily technically complex but do create original and exciting literary work inspired by the affordances of the web, blogs, apps, social media etc. Chris Meade and if:book UK will liaise with the winner to support the project, which will be showcased at the 2020 New Media Writing Prize award ceremony.

The Future Journalism Award: The Journalism Award honours innovative stories based on factual material and featuring digital media. Interactive documentaries, multimedia features and gamified journalism are all considered. Entries must incorporate new media technologies and platforms.

Criteria for the Future Journalism Award:

1. innovative use of new media to create an engaging, satisfying fact-based narrative.
2. does not need to be topical, but must be socially relevant.
3. must adhere to journalistic standards of accuracy and fairness.
4. ease of accessibility for the reader/viewer.
5. effective use of interactive elements.
6. an example of how new media can do things that traditional media cannot do.
7. the potential to reach out to a wide audience, i.e. not just specialist interest groups?

The Skylab Innovation Award: a special award to celebrate 10 years of collaboration between Bournemouth University and Skylab. Entries to this category must be built and published in Genarrator. See http://genarrator.org/ . It’s free to create an account and all design, editing and publishing is done online via Genarrator’s unique and very easy-to-use interface.

Criteria for the Skylab Innovation Award:

1. innovative use of the Genarrator platform to create an engaging, satisfying fiction or non narrative.
2. effective use of interactive elements.
3. an example of how Genarrator can do things that traditional media cannot do.
4. the potential to reach out to a wide audience, i.e. not just specialist interest groups?.

Selection Criteria: 

1. Innovative use of new (digital) media/transmedia to create an engaging, satisfying narrative, or poem, or as-yet-unspecified form. Fiction or non-fiction.
2. Ease of accessibility for the reader/viewer.
3. Effective use of interactive elements.
4. A great example of how new media can do things traditional media can’t.
5. The potential to reach out to a wide audience (i.e. not just specialist interest groups)

Application Deadline

How to Apply

If you’re intending to submit your work to the competition in 2020, be sure to check out the Competition Rules. It’s also a good idea to check out the FAQs to make sure your creative output fits our competition criteria. 

For more details, visit BU website.

Application Deadlines:

• 27th November 2020 12 noon GMT
• or if a Student entry, by: 18th December 2020 12 noon GMT