Opportunity knocks for aspiring football writers as part of next year’s Football Writers’ Festival to be held in Jamberoo, NSW.
Organisers have today announced an Emerging Writers’ Program for aspiring football journalists aged 30 years and under, to be published in an Anthology, and to attend and present at the Festival.
The program requires entrants to write an original, previously unpublished 3,000 word piece on any football topic in any form.
The aim of the Emerging Writers’ Program is to encourage young writers interested in football to write a long-form piece, which is seldom required in today’s media.
A long-form piece presents an opportunity to bring to life an individual, a club, an issue or something of interest in the football world to the writer.
Ten entries will be selected for publication in the Anthology to be launched at the Football Writers’ Festival, from which two entries will be selected to attend the Festival and present on their writing to the audience of journalists, writers, readers, fans and administrators.
The entries for inclusion in the Anthology will be judged by a panel of four comprising former long-term soccer writer with The Australian Ray Gatt; freelance journalist and author Matthew Hall; retired sports journalist and broadcaster Debbie Spillane; and Festival co-founder, freelance writer and author, Bonita Mersiades.
Two international judges will decide on the top two entries to attend and present at the Festival: investigative journalist and broadcaster Andrew Jennings, author of several seminal books on FIFA and IOC corruption, and Amy Lawrence, journalist with The Athletic and author of four books on Arsenal Football Club. Both Jennings and Lawrence are from the UK.
Entries close on 31 January 2020 with the ten winning entries announced in April next year.
Further information, including guidelines for the Emerging Writers’ Program, is available at www.footballwritersfestival.com.au.
