Gollancz, a venerable British science fiction publisher (now a division of Hachette) has announced its BAME SFF Award, with a top prize of £4,000 for science fiction written by over-18 BAME ("Black, Asian, minority ethnic) writers.
The top prize includes a critique by Gollancz commissioning editor Rachel Winterbottom. Second prize is £2,000 and a critique, while five runners up will receive £800 each. Entrants need to submit 5,000-10,000 words of prose (either a complete short story or the opening of a novel) in the science fiction, fantasy or horror genres.
The prize is co-sponsored by writer Ben Aaronovitch, Nanowrimo and the Good Literary Agency.
We are incredibly excited to launch The Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME SFF Award, in partnership with non-profit writing organisation National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) and with support from The Good Literary Agency.
GOLLANCZ, the UK’s oldest science fiction and fantasy imprint, and Ben Aaronovitch, author of the Sunday Times bestselling RIVERS OF LONDON series, are launching a new writing prize to champion underrepresented BAME voices in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror.
Stark statistics show that less than 1% of science fiction and fantasy books published in 2018 were from British BAME writers. We believe that the industry should be doing much more to seek out and foster talent from underrepresented voices and hope this award will be a step in the right direction. Here we are giving British BAME writers the opportunity to submit a short sample of writing within the genres of science fiction, fantasy or horror with the opportunity of being selected as one of seven finalists who will receive monetary and/or mentoring prizes from us in order to support your future writing career. Please read on for more details about the prizes on offer and how to submit.
