NEW writers with new ideas were commended at the weekend at the awards presentation of A Novel Approach, a national writing competition sponsored by Bishop Auckland Town Hall. They also received some good, gritty advice on how to get published.

This year the competition - which in the past, has encouraged short stories and novels - asked for a "crossover" novel. Inspired by such writers as David Almond, Mark Haddon and Philip Pullman, the search was on for a novel that bridged the divide between young readers and adults.

"It's currently one of the most difficult areas to write about," top literary agent Clare Alexander told writers at the celebratory lunch. "A few years ago, everyone was writing chick lit. Before that it was Aga sagas, but now everyone's trying to write crossover fiction and it's increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd."

Patrons of the competition include David Almond, Anne Fine and former Booker prize winner Pat Barker, who was at the presentation.

"The short-listed writers showed flair," said Bishop Auckland writer Wendy Robertson, who chaired the judging panel. "They're risk-taking in form and content, intellectual adventure, sheer writing ability and surprise, in varying measures.

"A key quality of the better examples was the sense that the layers of meaning in the novel worked on deeper levels than the surface story."

Many of the writers chose challenging themes and challenging ways in which to tell them. Joint first prize winner Ellen Phethean told the story of 15-year-old Kylie and her dysfunctional family, who live in Newcastle's Byker Wall. What's more, she told her story in punchy, powerful, sometimes rapper-like verse.

The other joint first winner - Louise Gallagher, from Kirby Lonsdale, and third place winner Jude Elgey, from Bishop Auckland - chose the theme of a child in foster care, which was popular in the competition. But they approached it with a dash of spark and wit that made them stand out from the rest.

All the entries - and the ten highly commended runners-up - were read by literary agent Clare Alexander, who offered advice and encouragement.

The competition has been running for a number of years and this year - faced with a very different challenge - the number of entries was lower than usual.

"But the standard has gone up" said Wendy. "It seemed unfair to have to pick out winners and losers as so many of the entries were extremely competent and made us want to read on, to find out what happened next."

Published: 09/11/2004