Blind Ambition is thrilled to share an inspiring opportunity for blind and partially sighted writers. King’s College London, in collaboration with the RNIB, is hosting a creative writing competition designed to celebrate and explore the unique ways people with sight loss experience art, objects, and culture.
Whether you’re an experienced writer or completely new to creative writing, this competition is open to you. It’s a chance to express your personal connection with museum visits, artwork, or even everyday household objects. Submissions can take the form of prose or poetry, rooted in either real experiences or imagined storytelling.
What to Write About
The theme revolves around visual or material culture as experienced by a person with sight loss. Here are some ideas to spark your creativity:
- Share your sensory impressions of a museum visit, artwork, or object.
- Write about an access event for blind and partially sighted people.
- Craft an audio description from your perspective.
- Portray your experiences of museum visits, whether solo or with companions.
- Dream up your ideal access event or reflect on touch tours or raised line drawings.
- Create a story inspired by an object or artwork, or delve into a memory connected to a cherished heirloom.
Prizes and Recognition
There are exciting prizes to be won:
- First prize: £250
- Second prize: £100
- Third prize: £50
Winning submissions, along with a selection of others, will be published in a booklet, giving your work an opportunity to reach a wider audience.
Judging Panel
Your work will be reviewed by a prestigious panel, including:
- Tanvir Bush: Acclaimed author of Cull
- Rachel Hutchinson: Lecturer in Psychology at Westminster University
- Georgina Kleege: Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Berkeley
- Victoria Moul: Poet, critic, and translator
How to Enter
- Deadline: 5pm, Monday 3rd February 2025
- Word limit: 1,000 words for prose or 50 lines for poetry
- Submit to ellen.adams@kcl.ac.uk, using the subject line: “KCL RNIB writing competition.”
Submissions must be in English and can be in text or audio format (MP3 files must include a text transcription).
Eligibility
- You must be blind or partially sighted.
- You must be over 18 and a UK resident.
- Only one submission per person.
AI-generated content is not permitted, as submissions should reflect your personal creative responses.
Get Inspired
Drawing from Blind Ambition’s work in accessibility and inclusion, we encourage you to explore how creativity and imagination can shine through different ways of sensing and perceiving the world. Let this competition be a platform to share your story and inspire others!
Good luck, and don’t forget to let us know how you get on. We’d love to hear about your progress and see your work celebrated.
Happy writing!
