Helen Fielding, author of the Bridget Jones novels, has launched a new writing prize aimed at discovering comedy talent from northern England.
The Bridget Jones Prize for Northern Comedy Writing invites writers to submit self-contained, first-person prose pieces of exactly 1,000 words. Fielding, who was born in Yorkshire, designed the competition to find voices "just living their lives being quietly hilarious," according to the prize materials.
The format deliberately mirrors the anonymous diary columns that introduced Bridget Jones to readers through the Independent newspaper in the mid-1990s. Those columns became the foundation for Fielding's hugely successful novel series.
The prize is administered through New Writing North, an organisation supporting writers in the region. Submissions follow the diary-style structure that defined the original Bridget Jones columns, emphasizing accessible, observational humour rooted in everyday life rather than formal comedy writing.
Fielding's move reflects a deliberate effort to platform regional writing talent and to reconnect the prize with the grassroots format that launched her most celebrated character decades ago. The northern England focus also represents a homecoming of sorts for the author to her own regional roots.