Gaia (an imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group) and Common Ground are on the hunt for a new voice in nature writing.
This is a competition for one winner to receive a commissioned piece in a nature-related outlet, two online masterclasses with Arvon and one online Arvon writing day, three one-hour mentoring sessions with a Gaia commissioner, one one-hour mentoring session with a literary agent, and a book bundle containing five books from the Company. Five runners-up will receive a book bundle containing five books from the Company.
To enter, please use the online submission portal to submit a previously unpublished piece of nature writing of any form in 1,000 words or less. To qualify, the author must self-identify as working class and must not have been previously commercially published digitally, in book form or in any form. The winning piece will demonstrate originality and the winner will be selected from the entries received in accordance with these terms and conditions as the most original, interesting, pertinent and high quality nature writing piece by a judging panel led by Natasha Carthew, Juliet Pickering, Philip Jones, Harriet Poland, Jem Hubbard and authors Nicola Chester, Eva Verde and JC Niala. The decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- The competition opens at 12:01 am GMT on 6 March 2026 and closes at 11:59 pm BST on 27 April 2026. Any entries received outside these specified times and dates will not be eligible for entry into the competition. Those shortlisted will be notified by 15 June 2026. The shortlist will be announced before 20 June 2026.
- There is no purchase necessary to enter.