Presentation of the Aspiring Writers Mentorship
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Special guest: Craig Silvey
Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program
Are you a budding writer?
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Do you have a manuscript ready and would love to be published?
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Enter the Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program for a chance to be professionally mentored
Key dates 2023
Program opens: August 1
Closes September: 6
Presented: at Aspire and Celebrate November 11
special guest: Craig Silvey
The Winner receives the Cottesloe Mentorship:
(5 hours face to face mentoring with Cathie Tasker )
and the Charlotte Waring Award Certificate.
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Entry Details
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Entries will be received in these categories - Young Adult, Middle Grade and Picture Book.
Cost of entries: CBCA members: $50. Non-members: $65
(CBCA NSW Branch no longer collects GST)
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Entrants must upload the appropriate entry form. There is a different entry form for each category. Enter the category best suited to your manuscript. If submitting multiple manuscripts, one entry form per manuscript is required.
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Longlisted authors will be invited to present their pitch before the Shortlist and Winner of the Cottesloe Mentorship is announced at Aspire and Celebrate on November 11, 2023.
Please read the Terms & Conditions carefully and comply with all the conditions outlined. The terms and conditions also contain information on how files are to be formatted, saved and uploaded.
Terms and Conditions are here.
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4 Steps to enter:
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1. Complete the 2023 Support Form. You will need to include the manuscript title, genre, target age, pitch, back page blurb, writing experience and synopsis.
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2. Submit your manuscript.​
You may find this easiest with a
gmail account.
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3. Email to alert us of your entry. click on this link
email cbcansw@outlook.com - use the subject AWMP2023
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4. Pay the entry fee: Members use Hello Club
Non - members click the link on the form
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Click here if you need help to How to write a pitch guide.
2022 winner announcement
2022 Cottesloe Mentorship
has been awarded to aspiring author
Lisa Le Faucheur
at the Aspire and Celebrate event
on October 29, 2022.
Lisa also receives
the Charlotte Waring Certificate.
Watch Lisa's pitch
Lisa Le Faucheur is an aspiring author from WA. Her winning manuscript was called Prince Skunk which was inspired by her son asking her to stop the wind.
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“Prince Skunk always gets exactly what he wants. Even by skunk standards, his bottom blasts are so exceptional that no-one ever tells him ‘no’. When the prince’s fancy treehouse starts to look sick, will he learn he can’t have everything
his own way? Or will he let rip with another stink toot?”
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Cathie Tasker, the well-known and respected editor, will mentor Lisa.
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The two runner's-up are:
Danielle Cerin for her middle grade manuscript Violet Bloom Undercover: mission to save the world, and
Sally Pilgrim for Lachie and the Worry Bugs, a Picture Book manuscript.
The runner's-up receive access to the Business of Being a Writer 4 sessions recorded in Perth by Fremantle Press
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Running your author career as a small business
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Social media for authors
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The ethics of representation
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In the writers room: writing for the screen
Plus a copy of the book How to be an Author by Deborah Hunn and Georgia Richter.
CBCA NSW Branch sincerely thank Fremantle Press & Cathie Tasker for their ongoing sponsorship of the Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program.
About the Aspiring writers program
The Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program was re-launched in 2021 with sponsorship by Cathie Tasker who will mentor the winner. Fremantle Press will provided 2 runners-up with access to their online writing course plus the text How to be an author by Georgia Richter & Deborah Hunn.
The Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program aims to foster the talent of aspiring writers of children's literature across Australia and is open to all Australian citizens residing in Australia.
CBCA NSW Branch and Cathie Tasker are delighted to enter into a five year partnership to ensure that this important program encouraging aspiring writers is maintained. The winner receives the Cottesloe Mentorship and the Charlotte Waring Certificate.
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Cathie, a publisher and editor, now works as an independent creative writing consultant. Over her career, she has commissioned nearly 800 books. She is passionate about books and reading, in line with the objects of the CBCA NSW Branch.
When asked about how the Cottesloe Mentorship came about, Cathie Tasker said - “I loved judging the CBCA Book of the Year Awards, and joined a great panel of other judges. The face-to-face discussions about the quality of books submitted were a highlight of my year. When the judges came together in Perth, Alan, my husband and I wanted to follow a long-held dream - to watch the sun set at Cottesloe Beach. We hoped it would be a special moment for us. Alas this was not meant to be due to torrential rain. Dreams can come true but not always as we imagine them. I have named the Mentorship for that moment with the hope that the Cottesloe Mentorship will be a special moment for an aspiring writer.”
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Authors whose careers have been launched by this program include the best selling/award
winning Michelle Cooper, Kristy Eagar, Jacqueline Harvey, Nathan Luff and Oliver Phommavanh.
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Full list of previous winners is here.