Helen Fielding launches prize for northern comedy writers

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 22 Oct, 13:08 · Archive

Author Helen Fielding has launched a new writing prize to find funny diary writers from northern England.

Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones's Diary, has launched a new writing prize aimed at discovering funny writers from the north of England. The Bridget Jones Prize will run for an initial three years from 2027 to 2029, in partnership with the charity New Writing North.

The award goes to the author of the funniest 1,000-word first-person prose piece. The format echoes the anonymous diary columns that originally appeared in the Independent in the mid-1990s, which Fielding wrote under the guise of the fictional Bridget Jones before the columns became a bestselling novel and spawned film adaptations starring Renée Zellweger.

Fielding said opportunities for writers across the UK are "very uneven", with "much more opportunity in the south than in the north, where I grew up". She said Bridget's humour came from "the everyday humour of people around me when growing up in Yorkshire: laughing together at our mess-ups; bringing the fancy and pretentious down to earth". The prize targets writers who "aren't famous: just living their lives being quietly hilarious".

The winner receives £2,000 and a package of support from Fielding's literary agents and New Writing North. One runner-up wins £1,000. Writers from the north who have not been published or signed with an agent are eligible, and there is no entry fee.

How it is being reported

• Helen Fielding launches Bridget Jones prize for northern comedy writingThe Yorkshire-born author says that the 1,000 word competition is for people ‘just living their lives being quietly hilarious’ Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding has launched a comedy writing prize in the name of her most famous creation, aimed at unearthing funny new voices from the north of England. The Bridget Jones prize for northern comedy writing will go to the funniest self-contained, first-person prose of 1,000 words. The format echoes the anonymous diary columns in the Independent that first brought Bridget to readers in the mid-1990s. Continue reading...The Guardian · 22 Oct, 12:46
• Author Helen Fielding launches award to find the next Bridget Jones's DiaryThe Bridget Jones Prize will go to the author of the funniest 1,000-word diary-style piece of writing.BBC News · 21 Oct, 11:45

In this story: Helen Fielding · Renée Zellweger · New Writing North · Yorkshire · the Independent

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