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- The Alan Titchmarsh Show launches a televised competition to find the ‘People’s Author’
Press Release
The Alan Titchmarsh Show launches a televised competition to find the ‘People’s Author’07/04/2009
Julie Walters, author of the bestselling autobiography That’s Another Story is to appear on The Alan Titchmarsh Show, ITV1 on Thursday 9th April to launch an exciting new literary TV talent search to find the ‘People’s Author’. The winner will be offered a publishing contract to write a book of true-life stories which are warm, entertaining and captivating.
The competition, to be televised on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV1, will be staged in a similar manner to the People’s Gardener. There will be 16 finalists, who will appear in four heats – on 5th October, 19th October, 2nd November and 16th November – in front of a panel of judges.
In the heats the contestants will pitch their story to the judges. Each heat will have a winner, decided by the panel, who will then go forward to a grand final on the 30th November, from which the overall winner will be decided by a public vote.
The prize will be a book contract from the Orion Publishing Group, the publishers of the bestselling Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth and That’s Another Story by Julie Walters. The winner will receive an advance of £20,000, and professional advice from leading literary agent Luigi Bonomi. Bonomi, as literary agent for Alan Titchmarsh, as well as leading Orion authors such as Richard Hammond and Sir Terry Wogan, was responsible for bringing together the Alan Titchmarsh Show and the Orion Publishing Group.
The winner’s book will then be published towards the end of Spring 2010.
The deadline for entries will be 30th June and entrants must submit a brief outline of their life story and some sample pages – 5000 words maximum. The 16 finalists will be announced in September.
Each of the finalists will be offered a meeting with one of the Orion Publishing Group’s editors to talk about how they might shape their story into a book.
Alan Titchmarsh says: ‘I can't wait to read the stories that are out there just waiting to be discovered - from folk who have cherished them for so long and who may well turn into the Laurie Lees and Winifred Foleys of the future. What a prospect!’
Luigi Bonomi says: ‘I am absolutely delighted to be associated with this prize. Orion has enormous experience in finding books that appeal to a huge mass market audience as indeed does the Alan Titchmarsh show, which in a short period of time has proved to be one of the most popular and successful shows on British television.’
Malcolm Edwards, Deputy CEO and Publisher of Orion, says: ‘We are delighted to be working with The Alan Titchmarsh Show and to give the opportunity for a talented unknown writer to publish their amazing true life story.’
The details for the competition can be found here.
The address for submissions is:
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
The People’s Author
P.O Box 64382
London
EC2P 2GJ
The closing date is Tuesday June 30th. Entrants must be 18 or over.