New creative writing competition for migrant voices

New creative writing competition for migrant voices

Like Migrant Voice, Together in the UK is committed to amplifying the voices of migrants in the UK. We warmly extend an invitation to friends and supporters at Migrant Voice to enter our exciting new creative writing competition or to share the invitation with first or second-generation migrants in their networks.

Founded in 2015, Together in the UK is a social enterprise that provides a platform for migrants to share their experiences and offer advice to other migrants navigating life in a new country. We also share Migrant Voice’s aim of creating a more empathetic society and making the transition to life in the UK a smooth one for people who come here.

With these goals in mind, we have launched a creative writing competition on the theme of migration. We are looking for the next wave of first and second-generation migrant writers to share their poetry, short stories or essays on what migration means to them. It can be a work of the imagination or based on their lived experience. 

We are excited to hear from new voices of all ages, so we have an Over 18s and an Under 18s category. The judging panel for each category comprises people with expertise in migration and in literature. The judges include:

• Lord Dubs, active member of the House of Lords, who migrated from the Czech Republic to Britain in 1939 as a child 
• Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future, a thinktank concerned with integration and identity; his parents migrated to the UK to support the NHS 
• Consuelo Rivera-Fuentes, author, academic and the publisher of Victorina Press, who migrated from Chile to the UK in 1992
• Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at King’s College London, who is well-versed in synthesizing complex topics like migration into something easily understood 
• David Marshall, founder and CEO of Marshall E-Learning, who specialises in diversity by creating products that are designed to help organisations become more inclusive and diverse
• Tyrone Roach, UK Correspondent for the Barbados Nation News and Chairperson of the Barbados Overseas Community and Friends Association

We are particularly thrilled to have Nazek Ramadan, Director of Migrant Voice and an award-winning expert in her field, on our judging panel. Originally arriving in the UK from Lebanon in 1986, Nazek has been at the forefront of bringing migrant voices to local and national attention. Having successfully brought migrant voices into the spotlight in London with the launch of The New Londoners newspaper in 2007, Nazek expanded this reach to a national audience through the creation of Migrant Voice in 2010. Nazek’s wealth of experience both personally and in her work is a much-appreciated asset to our panel.

Speaking about the opportunity to be a judge, Nazek said, “Migrant Voice has led on lots of different campaigns over the years, all geared to developing migrant voices, sometimes through arts and poetry, through engaging with the media or through images. It’s therefore obvious to me that I would want to encourage more voices, more creativity so of course, I want to be a judge on the Together in the UK competition.”

There are some great prizes for the winners, including a Chrome Workbook (donated by Marshall E-Learning), an iPhone 6S, a scooter, an illustration of the winning piece, career counselling, cinema vouchers, and a place on one of Migrant Voice’s Media Lab training sessions. The winners will also have the opportunity to present their work at Together in the UK’s next event.

The deadline to submit your poem, short story or essay is 24 January 2021. Have a go yourself and share with all who you think may be interested. We look forward to reading the work of the latest migrant voices in the UK creative scene!

Read all the details here: https://www.togetherintheuk.co.uk/creative-plus/