We’ve partnered up with Harvill Secker launch a competition to find a debut crime writer from a BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) background.

The winner will have their book published by Harvill Secker with an advance of £5,000. The winner will be on a panel at the next Bloody Scotland festival in 2019 and a series of three one-to-one mentoring sessions with our own newest committee member Abir Mukherjee.

The prize will be judged by Abir; creator of the Shetland and Vera series, Ann Cleeves; co-founder of BAME in Publishing, Sarah Shaffi and Harvill Secker editorial director Jade Chandler.

Entrants can enter the competition online via Penguin’s website, where they will be asked to submit the first 5,000 words of their crime novel, along with a full plot outline. Submissions are open from 9th July until 9th September 2018, with the winner due to be announced in November 2018.

“I’m excited to be part of this new initiative being launched by Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland. At this time of great change, it’s more important than ever that the experiences and viewpoints of writers from across the spectrum of our society are published. Different viewpoints mean different stories, which in turn lead to a wider, richer literary atmosphere, hopefully reaching out to communities who feel marginalised or who have traditionally lacked a voice.” – Abir Mukherjee

 

“Bloody Scotland is 100% behind this important new prize and it fits in perfectly with the work we have been doing recently with the British Council to bring crime writers from India to Scotland. We think that breaking down barriers in terms of access to authors from different cultural and social backgrounds will only improve the richness of the crime writing genre.” – Bob McDevitt, Bloody Scotland director