What a fantastic response we’ve had. The quality of the submissions to our Beyond the Book commission was very high. We had entries from forty writers and technologists with links to the upper South West, including projects from multi-prizewinning authors and professionals.
Our independent selection panel shortlisted commended twelve applicants, who have now all received feedback on their submissions. But the panel could only commission three projects and (in no particular order), here they are…
- Lucy Telling – “The Wallet Chapters”, an interactive narrative inspired by e-tickets
- Melanie Frances – “Seer”, a reader-led interdimensional journalistic investigation
- Lucy Christopher and Rajiv Edward – “The Fog”, A mission to save Bath from a time-freezing fog
Read all about their projects and the writers and technologists themselves on our Beyond the Book feature page.
Lucy Telling
Melanie Frances
Lucy Christopher and Rajiv Edward
The winners were selected by a prestigious panel, including Hachette Publishing’s Chief Innovation Officer and Innovation Program Director, Maja Thomas. The panel assessed applications on the basis of the level of innovation demonstrated within the proposal as well as on the quality of the portfolios. They gave preference to mid-career applicants – i.e people with a track record as an author and/or as a technologist.
Forward Prize highly commended writer Louisa Adjoa Parker, who was also on the panel, said, “I was delighted to take part in the Beyond the Book selection panel as it’s such an exciting opportunity for south west writers wanting to develop their digital writing. The shortlisted applications were all of high quality, with some fantastic, well-thought out ideas. It shows what a pool of talent there is in the region!”
Our Director of Innovation, Professor Kate Pullinger, who leads the Beyond the Book project, added, “The selection panel was hugely impressed by the variety and originality of the submissions, which all had the potential to utilise smartphones in innovative and creative ways. Congratulations to the commissioned applicants. We look forward to seeing your projects develop.”
If you didn’t get a chance to apply for Beyond the Book then there are more opportunities coming up to receive support from Paper Nations. In November, we will be sharing news about a new commission for both under-represented writers and emerging writers who have not yet been published. November will also see a new call for producers to sign up to a pool of associates, enabling those who support other writers to collaborate with Paper Nations on an adhoc basis to expand the culture of writing in South West England.