New Writing Award

The Gatehouse Getting Better Award is awarded each year to an adult learner who is overcoming significant barriers to learning in his/her life.

Marie McNamara, author of the Gatehouse Book, Getting Better, has overcome significant difficulties in her own life to graduate in Nursing from Salford University. Yet just a few years ago, Marie was a stay-at-home single mother of three children, living on benefits, who struggled with reading and writing and had no qualifications or worthwhile job prospects. 

Now, newly graduated from Salford University, Marie is beginning her first job as a fully qualified nurse. The lives of Marie and her children have been transformed. Importantly, as Marie’s skills developed, so have her children’s.

"Going back to education was changing all our lives. History was not going to repeat itself. I was making sure of that."

Marie’s aim is to encourage others like her to take the steps needed to improve their lives. To this end, Marie wants the royalties from sales of her book, Getting Better, to be used to encourage people to get writing and thinking about how they can make their own lives better.

Learners are invited to write and send in their own story to Gatehouse. The writer of the winning story (as selected by a judging panel) will receive a prize of £100. The entry deadline for this year’s award is 30th September 2009.

See the GATEHOUSE AWARDS page for more details