The SI Leeds Literary Prize, which runs biennially, is open for entries to the 2016 competition.
The competition is for unpublished novels or collections of short stories by Black and Asian women writers resident in the UK. The winner will receive £2,000 and an Arvon course and their book will be considered for publication by Peepal Tree Press. There is a runner up prize of £750 and a third prize of £250. The top three placed writers will be invited to a writer development event at the Free Word Centre. The top three non-placed writers will be offered professional development consultancy support through Peepal Tree Press’s Inscribe programme.
To be eligible, writers should be women who are Black, Asian or of mixed background from more than one ethnic group. Entries should be original, unpublished fiction (novels or short stories, in any genre) of at least 30,000 words. No more than 25% of the submission should have been previously published. Manuscripts that are partially or wholly available online for no charge are eligible. Entries should be complete, not works in progress. The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript. To enter, submit complete manuscripts via the online submission system. A fee of £18 is payable as part of the online submission process.