Mountaineering Scotland looks for best new outdoor writers for its annual Mountain Writing Competition
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Aspiring writers who are inspired by the mountains are being invited to enter an annual competition to find new outdoor authors.
Mountaineering Scotland has launched its Mountain Writing Competition for 2022 and is urging people to enter in either the prose or poetry category.
The representative body for hillwalkers, climbers, mountaineers and ski touring enthusiasts in Scotland is looking for the best in new writing about mountains and mountaineering.
Whether it’s the adrenalin rush of rock and ice climbing, the tranquillity and beauty of wandering gentle hills or the wonder of travelling in the high mountains, people have always felt driven to write about their experiences in the mountains.
The Mountaineering Scotland Mountain Writing Competition is open to members and non-members, and entries can be fact or fiction, just so long as the subject matter has a connection with any aspect of mountaineering, rock climbing, walking or ski mountaineering or ski-touring.
Writers can submit one entry to each of the two categories, poetry and prose.
The first prize in both prose and poetry sections is £200, while second and third prize winners in each section will receive £100 and £50 respectively.
As well as the cash prizes, winners will see their entries published in Scottish Mountaineer, the quarterly Mountaineering Scotland magazine which is read by more than 14,000 members.
Winning entries are also published on the Mountaineering Scotland website.
The competition has been run since 1987 and previous winners have included veteran outdoor writer Hamish Brown and more recent arrival John Burns, author of The Last Hillwalker, Bothy Tales and other books.
An archive of previous winners in both prose and poetry categories can be found at www.mountaineering.scot/members/members-benefits/scottish-mountaineer-magazine/mountain-writing-competition
Prose entries should be a maximum of 2000 words long and poetry entries should be a maximum of 200 words. There is a £5 entry fee per category.
Full rules and details of how to enter are at www.mountaineering.scot/mountainwriting
The deadline for entries is 5pm on October 31.
