Press Release

Tuesday 19 January 2016

New Welsh Writing Awards 2016: University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing opens for entries.

www.newwelshwritingawards.com

#newwelshawards

The New Welsh Writing Awards 2016: University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing has opened for entries on 19 January 2016 and closes at midnight on Sunday 3 April 2016. The Prize is run in association with the University of South Wales and CADCentre and celebrates the best short form travel writing (5,000-30,000 words) from emerging and established writers based in the UK and Ireland plus those who have been educated in Wales. The judges are New Welsh Review editor Gwen Davies and award winning travel writer Rory MacLean, author of ten books including best sellers Stalin's Nose , Under the Dragon and Berlin: Imagine a City .

First prize is £1,000 cash, e-publication by New Welsh Review on their New Welsh Rarebyte imprint in 2016, a positive critique by leading literary agent Cathryn Summerhayes at WME, as well as lunch with her in London. Second prize is a weeklong residential course in 2016 of the winner’s choice at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre in Gwynedd, north Wales. Third prize is a weekend stay at Gladstone’s Library in Flintshire, north Wales. All three winners will also receive a one-year subscription to the magazine. In addition New Welsh Review will consider the highly commended and shortlisted nominees for publication in a forthcoming edition of its creative magazine New Welsh Reader with an associated standard fee.

The longlist will be announced on 20 April 2016, with the shortlist announced at an event at Hay Festival on 1 June 2016 and the winner at a ceremony at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff on 7 July 2016. Full details, including terms and conditions, can be found online at www.newwelshwritingawards.com .

The New Welsh Writing Awards 2015: WWF Cymru Prize for Writing on Nature and the Environment was won by Eluned Gramich for Woman Who Brings the Rain: A memoir of Hokkaido, Japan (published 15 October 2015, £2.99 Kindle ebook). Eluned said about her win: “This Prize has given me the confidence to treat my writing seriously. I’m now writing a novel again, and this time I am determined not to give up.”

Gwen Davies , editor of New Welsh Review says: “Since economy and precision is what journals champion, it's right that these awards celebrate the shorter publishing formats that our digital age has made possible. When fellow judge, prize winning travel author Rory MacLean and myself make our adjudication next summer, I'm sure we will unveil a host of talent to add to the stable of writers on travel that have already found a home in the pages of the magazine. I hope that Rory's ambition, invention and stunning prose style will inspire newcomers to the genre and veteran travel hands alike.”

Co-judge Rory MacLean says “Only by experiencing the world from another person's point of view can we begin to understand that person or society.  Borders are bridged most powerfully by individuals, through characters and stories, by evoking empathy. Hence the enduring importance of travel and travel writing, and of this competition that goes to the very heart of the matter.”

Dr Nic Dunlop , Head of English at the University of South Wales, said: "We are delighted to be working with New Welsh Review to find the best writing talent in Wales and beyond. This Prize has already discovered Eluned Gramich’s beautifully crafted essay writing and we are very much looking forward to revealing more talented writers of the future."

Ali Anwar , Managing Director of CADCentre UK, added: "The CADCentre is delighted to support the New Welsh Writing Awards for a second time, celebrating the work of writers from Wales and those who are educated here nurtures and raises the profile of our writing talent. Building links between the business and the arts communities should be a creative experience and a source of inspiration for both, especially in a country which has a deep and innate respect for culture."

The New Welsh Writing Awards 2016: University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing is sponsored by the University of South Wales and CADCentre UK. New Welsh Review has also partnered with WME , Gladstone’s Library and T ŷ Newydd Writing Centre for this project. New Welsh Review Ltd is supported through core funding by the Welsh Books Council and hosted by Aberystwyth University Department of English and Creative Writing.

Datganiad i’r Wasg

Mawrth 19 Ionawr 2016

Gwobrau New Welsh Writing 2016: Gwobr Prifysgol De Cymru ar gyfer Ysgrifennu Taith ar agor i ymgeiswyr

Ar 19 Ionawr 2016 agorodd Gwobr Prifysgol De Cymru ar gyfer Ysgrifennu Taith: Gwobrau New Welsh Writing 2016 i ymgeiswyr a bydd yn cau am hanner nos ar 3 Ebrill 2016. Caiff y Wobr ei rhedeg mewn cydweithrediad â Phrifysgol De Cymru a CADCentre ac mae’n dathlu’r ysgrifennu taith byr gorau (5,000-30,000 o eiriau) gan lenorion newydd a phrofiadol yn y DU ac Iwerddon ynghyd â’r rheini sydd wedi’u haddysgu yng Nghymru. Y Beirniaid yw Golygydd New Welsh Review Gwen Davies a’r llenor taith arobryn Rory MacLean, awdur deg o lyfrau gan gynnwys y cyfrolau poblogaidd Stalin's Nose , Under the Dragon a Berlin: Imagine a City .

Y wobr gyntaf yw £1,000, e-gyhoeddi gan New Welsh Review ar eu gwasgnod New Welsh Rarebyte yn 2016, beirniadaeth gadarnhaol gan yr asiant llenyddol blaenllaw Cathryn Summerhayes yn WME, yn ogystal â chinio gyda hi yn Llundain. Yr ail wobr yw dewis o gwrs preswyl wythnos o hyd yn 2016 yng Nghanolfan Ysgrifennu Tŷ Newydd yng Ngwynedd. Y drydedd wobr yw arhosiad dros benwythnos yn Llyfrgell Gladstone yn Sir y Fflint. Bydd y tri enillydd hefyd yn derbyn tanysgrifiad o flwyddyn i’r cylchgrawn. Yn ogystal, bydd New Welsh Review yn ystyried cyhoeddi gwaith yr enwebeion a gymeradwyir yn uchel a’r rhai ar y rhestr fer mewn rhifyn o’r cylchgrawn creadigol New Welsh Reader yngyhyd â ffi safonol gysylltiedig.

Cyhoeddir y rhestr hir ar 20 Ebrill 2016, gyda’r rhestr fer yn cael ei chyhoeddi mewn digwyddiad yng Ngŵyl y Gelli ar 1 Mehefin 2016, a’r enillydd mewn seremoni yng Ngholeg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru ar 7 Gorffennaf 2016. Ceir manylion llawn, gan gynnwys y telerau ac amodau, ar-lein: www.newwelshwritingawards.com http://www.newwelshwritingawards.com .

Enillwyd Gwobr WWF Cymru ar gyfer Ysgrifennu am Natur a’r Amgylchedd: Gwobrau New Welsh Writing 2015 gan Eluned Gramich am Woman Who Brings the Rain: A memoir of Hokkaido, Japan (cyhoeddwyd 15 Hydref 2015, £2.99 elyfr Kindle). Wrth son am ei champ dywedodd Eluned: “Mae’r Wobr hon wedi rhoi’r hyder i fi drin fy ysgrifennu o ddifrif. Rwyf i nawr yn ysgrifennu nofel eto, a’r tro hwn rwy’n benderfynol o beidio â rhoi’r gorau iddi.”

Dywed Gwen Davies , golygydd New Welsh Review: “Cynildeb a chywirdeb yw’r hyn sy’n bwysig i newyddiadurwyr, ac felly mae’n iawn fod y gwobrau hyn yn dathlu’r fformatau cyhoeddi byrrach sydd bellach yn bosibl yn ein hoes ddigidol. Pan fydd fy nghyd-feirniad, yr awdur taith arobryn Rory MacLean a fi’n beirniadu’r haf nesaf, rwy’n siŵr y byddwn yn darganfod cyfoeth o dalent i ychwanegu at y stabl o lenorion taith sydd eisoes wedi canfod cartref yn nhudalennau’r cylchgrawn. Gobeithio y bydd uchelgais, dyfeisgarwch a rhyddiaith ysblennydd Rory’n ysbrydoli newydd-ddyfodiaid i’r genre a theithwyr profiadol fel ei gilydd.”

Yn ôl y cyd-feirniad Rory MacLean “Dim ond drwy brofi’r byd o safbwynt rhywun arall y gallwn ni ddechrau deall y person hwnnw neu’r gymdeithas honno. Caiff ffiniau eu pontio’n fwyaf pwerus gan unigolion, drwy gymeriadau a straeon, drwy ennyn empathi. Dyma’r rheswm am bwysigrwydd parhaus teithio ac ysgrifennu taith, a’r gystadleuaeth hon sy’n mynd i graidd y pwnc.”

Dywedodd Dr Nic Dunlop , Pennaeth Saesneg ym Mhrifysgol De Cymru : "Rydym ni wrth ein bod i fod yn gweithio gyda New Welsh Review i ddod o hyd i’r doniau ysgrifennu gorau yng Nghymru a thu hwnt. Mae’r Wobr hon eisoes wedi darganfod ysgrifau cain Eluned Gramich ac rydym ni’n edrych ymlaen yn fawr at ddatgelu rhagor o lenorion talentog y dyfodol.”

Ychwanegodd Ali Anwar , Rheolwr Gyfarwyddwr CADCentre UK: "Mae CADCentre yn falch iawn i gefnogi Gwobrau New Welsh Writing am yr ail dro, mae dathlu gwaith llenorion o Gymru a’r rhai sydd wedi’u haddysgu yma yn meithrin ac yn codi proffil ein doniau llenyddol. Dylai creu cysylltiadau rhwng y gymuned busnes a’r gymuned celfyddydau fod yn brofiad creadigol ac yn ysbrydoliaeth i’r ddwy gymuned, yn enwedig mewn gwlad sydd â pharch dwys a chynhenid at ddiwylliant.”

Noddir Gwobr Prifysgol De Cymru ar gyfer Ysgrifennu Taith: Gwobrau New Welsh Writing 2016 gan Brifysgol De Cymru a CADCentre UK. Mae New Welsh Review wedi creu partneriaeth gyda WME , Llyfrgell Gladstone a Chanolfan Ysgrifennu T ŷ Newydd ar gyfer y prosiect hwn. Cefnogir New Welsh Review Ltd drwy gyllid craidd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru a’i gynnal yn Adran Saesneg ac Ysgrifennu Creadigol Prifysgol Aberystwyth.