There are many writing competitions out there. But very few are built from the ground up around the idea that talent doesn’t always come with opportunity. The Creative Future Writers’ Award – run by the Brighton-based arts charity Creative Future – is one of those rare exceptions.
Founded in 2013, it’s an annual development programme and writing competition specifically for writers who face barriers due to health, mental health, neurodiversity, background, or social circumstance. It’s also, crucially, completely free to enter – something that matters enormously when writers include people in mental health units, in prison, or simply without the financial means to stake an entry fee on their own talent.
The Writing Coach has been a proud Award Partner for a number of years, and founder Jacqui Lofthouse personally offers mentoring to two Silver Award winners every year. It’s a partnership that reflects something central to The Writing Coach’s ethos: that every writer deserves the chance to be heard.
What Is the Creative Future Writers’ Award?
The Creative Future Writers’ Award is the UK’s only free national writing competition open exclusively to underrepresented writers. Each year, fifteen winners are selected across three categories – poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction – by a panel of prestigious authors and industry professionals.
The prize pot is substantial: winners share £25,000 worth of prizes, which include cash awards and, writing development opportunities such as mentoring, editorial support, and access to the literary world in a meaningful and sustained way. Winners also receive long-term one-to-one support from Creative Future itself.
The ceremony has, in most years, been held at the Southbank Centre in London as part of the London Literature Festival – a high-profile, celebratory event where winning writers read their work alongside prominent guest authors. Winning work is also published in an anthology alongside the guest writers, giving each winner a lasting, tangible record of their achievement.
Who Can Enter?
The award is open to writers who identify as ‘underrepresented’ – a term Creative Future defines broadly to include those who face barriers because of mental or physical health, neurodiversity, disability, homelessness, imprisonment, or social and economic circumstances. The competition has always championed voices from working-class backgrounds, LGBTQ+ writers, Black and Asian writers, and many others whose paths into the literary world are less straightforward than most.
Submissions are open in three forms: poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Each year, the competition is given a theme to write towards – something broad enough to inspire widely different interpretations, and specific enough to give writers a creative anchor.
The Writing Coach’s Role
The Writing Coach has been an Award Partner since at least 2019, sitting alongside other leading literary organisations in supporting the competition. Jacqui Lofthouse and her team offer personal mentoring to three of the Silver Award winners each year – a commitment that reflects the organisation’s founding belief that skilled, thoughtful support can genuinely transform a writing career.
Jacqui attends the awards ceremony in person, listening to prizewinners read their work at the Southbank Centre – a high-profile event that brings together the quality of the writing, the courage of the writers, and the genuine literary community that Creative Future has built over more than a decade.
The partnership is a natural fit. The Writing Coach has long offered scholarships to writers from underrepresented backgrounds through its membership community, The Literary Community, and has always been committed to working with writers who might otherwise struggle to access professional development. The Creative Future Writers’ Award is one of the most direct expressions of those shared values.
The 2026 Award: Theme, Prizes, and Deadline
This year’s competition is now open – and the theme for 2026 is ‘Material’.
It’s a richly ambiguous word: the stuff of the physical world, the fabric of our lives, the raw material of art. Writers working in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction are all invited to respond to it in whatever way feels truest to them.
15 winners will share £25,000 worth of prizes, including professional mentoring from The Writing Coach and other literary partners.
The deadline to enter is Tuesday 5 May 2026. Entry is free.
You can find full entry details, eligibility criteria, and FAQs at:
www.creativefuture.org.uk/for-writers/creative-future-writers-award/
And to find out more about The Writing Coach’s mentoring programmes and how we support writers at every stage:
If you’re an underrepresented writer, or know someone who is, please share this widely. The best writing competitions are the ones that reach the writers who need them most – and this is one of them.
Nobody Told Me: Debut play by Luc Albinski
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