Writers from across the region will benefit benefit from a new literary award which will fund them for three years, it was announced today.

Three writers will have an equal share of the £180,000 from the Northern Rock Foundation Writer Award to help out in the notoriously low paid profession.

Writers in the region will be able to concentrate on new work while having an income for a fixed period, with the first winner being announced in April.

Two further successful writers will be announced in subsequent years.

Although big name writers can earn hundreds of thousands of pounds in advances from publishers, most authors survive on a fraction of that.

Leading novelist Alisdair Gray said in a survey of writer's incomes in 1998 that he earned less than £20,000.

The study, entitled The Cost of Letters, showed that writers of serious works could earn as little as £5-6,000 per book, even if they sold well and were on a good royalty rate.

Poet Laureate Andrew Motion one of the judges called the new awards "a brave and exciting new initiative." They are open to writers of any genre who have been living in Teesside, County Durham, Northumberland Tyneside and Wearside for the past three years.

Fiona Ellis, director of the Northern Rock Foundation, said: "The Foundation is proud to be based in the North East where there is such a strong literary culture.

"We want to help sustain and develop our writers as one of our great cultural assets."

Judges also include County Durham-based writer of The Ghost Road, Pat Barker, and poet Jo Shapcott.