The Women’s Prize Trust, Audible, Curtis Brown Literary Agency and Curtis Brown Creative Writing School are delighted to launch Discoveries 2025, searching for the most talented and original new female writing voices in the UK and Ireland.

Discoveries is open to women aged 18 and above residing in the UK or Ireland and writing in English. Discoveries accepts novels in any genre of adult fiction.

Unlike most initiatives of this kind, Discoveries is completely free. Discoveries doesn’t require writers to have finished a novel – only to have started one. Entrants will be required to submit only the first 10,000 words of their novel and a synopsis. The word limit of 10,000 words is a maximum and you are free to submit less if you wish.

Writers eligible for Discoveries 2025 may only submit one entry. The submissions window closes on 13th January 2025.

The winner of this Prize, now in its third year, will receive an offer of representation from Curtis Brown and £5,000.

One promising writer, named the ‘Discoveries Scholar’, will also win a free scholarship to attend a three-month Writing Your Novel course with Curtis Brown Creative (worth £1,800).

All six shortlisted authors will also have access to mentoring with a Curtis Brown agent, a free place on a six-week online writing course with Curtis Brown Creative and a studio session focused on writing and recording for audio with Audible.

All sixteen longlisted authors will receive a bespoke, two-week online Discoveries Writing Development Course taught by Women’s Prize shortlisted author Charlotte Mendelson and an annual Audible subscription.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.