Aspiring female football writers have the chance to be published in a new anthology thanks to an initiative of the Football Writers Festival.
The Football Writers Festival has announced an Emerging Women Writers program to coincide with Australia and New Zealand co-hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The program is an opportunity for female writers who are not yet established as authors to have an original, previously unpublished work to be circulated as part of an anthology of stories to be available at the 2023 Football Writers Festival.
Football Writers Festival founder, Bonita Mersiades, said: “Our newly launched Emerging Women Writers program offers a unique chance for aspiring women writers to springboard their career in sports media.
“Coinciding with the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand – which is set to be record-breaking – the competition is a great chance to champion a break-out female star in journalism and to nurture new writing talent from across the globe.”
Writers are invited to submit a long-form story of between 3,000 and 5,000 words on any football-related topic, such as an interview or profile of an individual or individuals, a club story, a short history of a club or an event, a dive into a football politics issue, a work of fiction, commentary, analysis, an investigative piece, a poem, or a first-person story.
Up to 20 entries will be included in the anthology entitled Hear Us Roar – Stories from Women of Football, a book to be launched at next year’s Football Writers Festival. Up to three of the emerging writers will also be invited to Australia to attend and speak at the festival.
The judging panel for the entries includes current and former journalists from Australia, the UK, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Emerging Women Writers program is supported by sports performance lab, ‘eo’, a collective of sports scientists and performance specialists dedicated to developing products which aim to improve athlete performance, accelerate recovery and adaptation, prevent injury, and aid rehabilitation.
Chairman of eo, Jaimie Fuller, said: “We are thrilled to support the Emerging Women Writers program as part of the 2023 Football Writers Festival.
“I have been to all three festivals so far, and it just keeps getting better and better. Next year’s festival, with its line-up of international journalists and authors available just ahead of the Women’s World Cup, will be a cracker.
“Just as eo wants to push boundaries by defying convention, we hope that the Emerging Women Writers program will encourage women around the world to also defy convention and have a go. It’s a great opportunity to do so – and potentially be published,” Fuller said.
The fourth iteration of the Football Writers Festival will be held in Tar-Ra, the cultural precinct of Sydney also known as Walsh Bay, from July 15-17 2023, days ahead of the opening of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The Football Writers Festival is an initiative of Fair Play Publishing, supported by the Johnny Warren Football Foundation.
