New ELTons Award for creative writing announced

The British Council has teamed up with Macmillan Education in a bid to discover aspiring ELT creative authors with its Macmillan Education Innovative Writing Award. The award gives previously unpublished writers the opportunity to win a £1,000 prize and have their work published. The inaugural award will also give the winner a chance to develop their career in publishing through a mentoring programme supported by Macmillan Education.

The British Council's ELTons Awards celebrate the innovation and creativity in the English Language teaching community worldwide. This new ELTons award category joins the long-established group of British Council Innovation Awards.

Michael Carrier, British Council Head of English Language Innovation said: `The ELTons have grown to become an essential fixture in the ELT calendar as a celebration of innovation in the sector. I am delighted that Macmillan Education have partnered with the British Council to sponsor a new Innovative Writing Award category that will recognise and reward aspiring creative writers looking to make their first break into the English language publishing industry.

'I'm also very grateful to Cambridge ESOL for their continued support of the ELTons, and their extension to this to include the sponsorship of the International Award,' he said.

The Awards also include the International Award for Innovation, which Cambridge ESOL have agreed to sponsor from 2010. Cambridge ESOL have been long-term supporters of the ELTon Awards, and continue to be the sponsors of the annual ELTons event.

Any ELT professional can apply for consideration for one of the categories including authors, teachers, trainers and publishers. The call for entries is now open and an application pack can be downloaded from here.  The deadline for entries is 30 September, 2009.

Jo Greig, Marketing Director at Macmillan Education said: ‘At Macmillan Education we embrace innovation through our award-winning publishing and our approach to delivering high-quality products in various media and to new niche markets. We're delighted to sponsor the British Council’s new Award for Innovative Writing to help give new authors a chance to make their first step into a writing career with the help of an internationally recognised publisher’.

Now in its seventh year running, the ELTons is the only international awards ceremony that rewards the wealth of innovative new English language teaching (ELT) resources that help English language learners and teachers achieve their goals.

Christine Nuttall, Director Communications and Stakeholder Relations at Cambridge ESOL said ‘We have supported the Awards since their launch in 2003 as we recognise the importance of identifying new and innovative products and research in the field of English language teaching in the UK and overseas.  We are particularly pleased to increase our sponsorship to include the International category this year.’

Applications are judged by a panel of ELT experts and the winners are announced at a prestigious ELTons awards ceremony, held in London on March 3, 2010. Each winning entry will receive a cash prize of £1,000 and will become part of a growing network of ELTons alumni around the world.

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For more information, please call Antony Watson at the British Council on 0207 389 4872 or e-mail antony.watson@britishcouncil.org

Notes to editors

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