Poets Ian Duhig, from Leeds, Carolyn Jess-Cooke (Whitley Bay), Geraldine Monk and Susannah Evans, both from Sheffield, and Zaffar Kunial (Shipley) were among the cash-winning writers announced this week at the Northern Writers awards in Newcastle.

Initially only available to writers in the north-east of England, the awards opened up to writers from across the north for the 2013 intake, which led to over three times as many submissions.

“This year we are bucking the trend of the economic climate and have grown the awards both in size and scale to ensure that the profile of writers from the north continues to grow," said New Writing North’s chief executive, Claire Malcolm. "this year’s winners hail from across the Greater North – from Lancaster and Manchester in the west to Sheffield in the south of the region through to Newcastle and Whitley Bay in the north-east.

The awards programme, created and run by New Writing North, was launched in 2000 to support talented new and established writers to develop their work towards publication through cash prizes, mentoring, networking opportunities, and critical feedback.

2013 is the second year that the awards have been supported by Northumbria University, which has given the awards £60,000 in total. More details Potts Print (UK) are also project sponsors, and enable the awards’ publicity to become carbon neutral. This new support secures the future of the awards.

The winning writers fall into two categories: those receiving cash prizes to allow them to buy time to write and complete works-in-progress, and those receiving development bursaries to bring a current piece of work towards publication.

Toby Martinez de las Rivas, a poet from Gateshead published by Faber & Faber, was announced as the first  winner of the International Residency Prize, which carries a £5,000 cash prize as well as a two-week residency at New Writing North’s partner organisation in Newcastle, New South Wales, Hunter Writers’ Centre, in October 2013.

The awards are open to writers of any genre, including literary fiction, poetry and writing for children. You can find more information about the awards and New Writing North here. The 2014 Northern Writers’ Awards will open for entries in October 2013 and the deadline will be 31 January 2014.

PHOTOGRAPH: SIMON VEIT-WILSON/NEW WRITNG NORTH