We’re delighted to announce TLC Pen Factor 2023, our annual writing competition, open to all ticket-holders of Being A Writer Festival . Now in its eleventh year, the competition started as an adjunct to TLC’s Writing in a Digital Age Conference in 2012, later becoming part of our popular Writers’ Day, held at the Free Word Centre in London.
We’ve structured this year’s Prize Bundle around the key themes of the 2023 Being A Writer Festival. These are:
- Inspiration
- Industry
- Wellbeing
- Community
The prize bundle this year is worth approximately £2,000 and we’re very grateful to our wonderful prize partners for their generous support. To be in with a chance of winning, you need a ticket to our Being a Writer Festival, which you can pick up here.
2023 Prize Pot
INSPIRATION
Our new partner Write & Shine will provide the winner with a place at a Write & Shine workshop (worth £29).
Arvon will provide the winner with x1 At Home Writing Week (worth £425)
INDUSTRY
TLC will provide the winner with one Manuscript Assessment (worth (650) and an Editor one to one bundle (worth £160) which includes:
- One-hour Zoom meeting with a TLC Reader
- One additional hour’s reading time from your TLC Editor
- A goal-setting worksheet to help you get the most out of your session
- A goal-setting template to use after your session to help you implement the feedback
- An audio recording of your session
WELLBEING
Our new partner Liz Champion will provide a ‘First Draft’ Coaching session bundle (worth £240)
COMMUNITY
Spread the Word will provide the winner with a free year-long membership (worth £25)
Royal Society of Literature will provide the winner with a free year-long membership = (worth £50)
TLC will provide the winner with a free year-long membership to Being a Writer (worth £99)
The deadline for submission is to 9am GMT Friday 16th June 2023.
About the TLC Pen Factor
Submit your unpublished writing to the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition for the chance to have it land on an industry specialists’ desk, and to win a suite of prizes. We will select a long and shortlist to send to our industry judges, who will deliberate at a judges’ meeting ahead of the Online Writers’ Day. A winner will be announced at the event.
The TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition is a competition for new, unpublished writing across fiction and non-fiction, open exclusively to Being A Writer Festival ticket-holders.
As a competition, TLC Pen Factor has an impressive track record for finding talent, with many of our previous finalists going on to be published – including as a direct result of meeting their agent at the event! You can read about how entering (and subsequently winning) resulted in Lizzie Damilola Blackburn landing a two-book deal with Viking here. Previous winners and finalists include Neema Shah, Guinevere Glasfurd, Adam Sharp, Abi Dare, and Fawzia Kane.
TLC Pen Factor Key Details
The deadline for submission is to 9am GMT Friday 16th June 2023.
TLC Pen Factor Judges for 2023 are Megan Carroll (Watson, Little), Emma Leong (Janklow & Nesbit), and Serena Arthur (Trapeze, Hachette).
Full entry guidelines and Ts & Cs will be sent to paying ticket-holders once you purchase your Festival Pass, or Single Week Pass. You must be a Being a Writer Festival ticket holder and able to attend the TLC Pen Factor Live Pitch on Thursday 20th July 2023 in order to enter the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition.
How to Submit
Full submission guidelines will be issued once you have booked a ticket for Being a Writer Festival. The below is a summary of key points.
- The work entered must be an original, unpublished work of full-length fiction or narrative non-fiction. It does not have to be complete at the time of entering the competition.
- Your work must not be on submission to literary agents or publishers at the point of entry. If the work is on historic submission and you receive an offer of representation, you must immediately inform us and withdraw your submission from the competition.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to accept short stories, poetry, picture books, or scripts.
- The work entered cannot have been previously published by a publisher with a curated list (i.e., where the work has been through an editorial selection process). Previously self-published work will be accepted.
- You must be a Being a Writer Festival ticket-holder and able to attend the TLC Pen Factor Live Pitch on Thursday 20th July 2023 in order to enter the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition.
- You must enter the competition using the same name and email you used to purchase your ticket, so that we can verify your eligibility to enter.
- The judges’ decision re: longlist, shortlist and the overall winner is final and unfortunately, we are not able to enter into discussion or give feedback.
- Submissions not complying with the submission guidelines will not be considered.
The Submission Deadline is 9am GMT Friday 16th June 2023.
