Literary agency Mulcahy Conway Associates has established a new prize of £1,000 to be awarded to the best piece of unpublished fiction written for children or young adults.

The prize is being offered in conjunction with The Northern Writers' Centre, the partnership between New Writing North, the writing development agency for the North East of England, and The School of English at Newcastle University.

Professor Linda Anderson, Associate Dean of Creative Practice at Newcastle University and co-Director of The Northern Writers' Centre, said "we are delighted to put in place this sponsorship from such a dynamic agency as Mulcahy Conway Associates. They, like us, are committed to finding and supporting talented new writers."

The directors of Mulcahy Conway Associates said: "The market for children's books is very healthy both in the UK and internationally. We are always searching for authors with the potential to have successful long-term careers writing children's books. In recent years we have been very impressed by the work being done at The Northern Writers' Centre and are pleased to have this opportunity of formalising our relationship with them."

To be eligible for the award, writers must be either living and working in the North East of England or past or present students of creative writing at The School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at Newcastle University. Picture books or illustrated books are not eligible. The closing date for entries is the 31st January 2009. Entry forms and full conditions of entry are available from the Northern Writers' Centre website:www.northernwriterscentre.com

For more information on Mulcahy Conway Associates visit the agency's website at: www.mca-agency.com