Award winning success for Teesside alumnus Nate Black

Recent graduate Nate Black has been honoured with the Northern Debut Award for Fiction, earning recognition among England's most promising emerging writers and marking an important milestone in his developing writing career.

One of our recent graduates has been awarded the Northern Debut Award for Fiction at the New Writing North Northern Writers' Awards. These awards are the largest for aspiring writers in England and were held at Northumbria University. They are supported by Arts Council England and a range of partners.

The Northern Writers’ Awards discover and support writers in the North of England, with a focus on supporting new work in progress. They offer a wide range of opportunities for writers at all stages of their careers, including publication, mentoring, manuscript assessment, writing placements, retreats and cash awards to buy time to write. They are the largest writing development programme of their kind in England. The total package of support across all awards is approximately £75,000, including £64,300 in cash bursaries going directly to writers. By supporting writers at an earlier stage than most literary awards – often before an agent or publisher is involved – the awards offer crucial support for writers at a pivotal stage of their careers.

The 27 winners were selected from more than 1,500 entries to England’s largest and longest-running writer development programme.

Nate Black (BA (Hons) Media and Communication, 2023), who is currently working at Big Table Marketing as a Social Media Manager, shared news of his recent award with Teesside University. He said:

"I've always had a passion for writing, and Teesside University gave me the confidence to put myself out there as a writer. During my studies, the team really nurtured my creative abilities, believing in me when I didn't believe in myself. On my last day of studies, I distinctly remember my lecturer telling me that he saw a future in writing for me. I didn't believe him at the time, but he saw something in me that I was yet to realise. Winning the Northern Debut Award for Fiction award has given me the confidence to say "I am a writer". Not only a writer, but an award winning writer, which sounds surreal to me. I couldn't be prouder to be a Teesside University alumni and bring this award home for Teesside."

Here at Teesside, we love to share the success of our alumni and celebrate their achievements. Nate’s award is a fantastic recognition of his talent, dedication and creativity, and highlights the impact of nurturing emerging talent through higher education. We wish Nate every success with his future writing projects and look forward to following his journey as his career continues to flourish.

If you have recently been successful in your career and want to share your news with us, we would love to hear about it. Please email Alumni@tees.ac.uk.

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