Club news
Written by: Joe
The Rooker Prize is back for its fourth year and we’re delighted to announce a special chairperson for the 2025 Lewes FC owners-only writing competition.
Everyone has a novel in them, right? But does everyone have the time to write one? And what if, 100,000 words later, it isn’t any good? This is where the Rooker Prize comes in…
The Rooker Prize is a competition designed to open up the possibility of writing a novel to everyone. All entrants need do is write the opening 250 words of a novel. That’s it. Just that.
It is open to all Lewes FC owners and this year we’re delighted to announce Baroness Lola Young as chair of the Rooker Prize.
Baroness Young has previously chaired the Booker Prize (yes, the Booker Prize!) and is one of Lewes FC’s 2,500 owners. On a recent visit to the Dripping Pan, Lola kindly volunteered to chair this year’s competition, saying: “Wouldn’t it be fab to have chaired both the Booker and the Rooker? Not many can lay claim to both accolades.” We couldn’t agree more.
The winner of the Rooker Prize receives a beautiful hand-carved wooden trophy plus £250 to go to the charity of their choice. Hachette UK – one of the UK’s leading publishing groups – also offers an incredible and exclusive additional prize. The winner will receive an hour’s feedback/coaching session at Hachette UK’s offices in London where their entry will be discussed with an experienced editor, to hopefully help kickstart a new career.
The only condition for entry is that you are an owner of Lewes FC. As owners, you don’t have to worry about that part! But if you know someone who would thrive writing 250 words of a novel, then invite them to become an owner today!
The Rooker Prize 2025 is now open for entries:
- • Type your 250-word opening to a novel and the book title, stating the genre. Please add your work as an attachment, rather than in the body of the email
- • Then send the attachment via email to Karen@lewesfc.com with the subject line: ROOKER PRIZE ENTRY, and put your name and contact details in the email
- • Closing date is Saturday 5 April 2025
- • The winner will be announced on Friday 18 April, and the prize presented at half-time at the women’s match on Sunday 27 April (International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day)
We’d also like to express our thanks and gratitude to Karen for overseeing this amazing project, which has run since 2022, again this year