The writer behind an experimental story in which readers can mix their own soundtrack as they follow the tale of an aspiring DJ has won a £15,000 prize.

Edinburgh-based writer, teacher and spoken word performer Gavin Inglis has been named the winner of Nesta’s Alternarratives prize.

Nesta’s Alternarratives was set up to help writers to explore innovation in short-form storytelling and encourage storytellers to imagine how short fiction could help re-engage young people at secondary school, aged 11-16, with the act of reading for pleasure.

Nine writers across the UK were awarded a £1,500 bursary to develop their ideas, which ranged from a story of self-discovery on Google maps to a mystery told over Instagram and Inglis’ interactive audio story The Reader Remix.

Inglis plans to develop his story and make the coding behind it open source so others can add their own stories and music to the platform.

Inglis said: “I really enjoy the creative combination of music and spoken word. Lots of people believe music-making is out of their reach. With Reader Remix I wanted to make the reader an active participant in the story of a first-time DJ — creating the backing track themselves, with no experience necessary.

“It was such a privilege to have time and support to work on this, particularly as the pandemic hit. I learned new skills. Everybody at Nesta was so encouraging, and there was a community spirit among the longlisted creators. It was fascinating to see the other projects develop from concept to prototype. Watch out for them.”

Writers Rachael Hodge and Felicity Brown from Oxford were named runners up for their AI-powered Shakespeare reboot, WillPlay Romeo & Juliet, and will receive £2,000.

Thomas McMullan from London was highly commended for his interactive investigation story The Unsettled Ground and will receive £1,000 prize money.

All nine concepts that received development funding were hosted on the BBC Taster website and young people were asked to give feedback to help select the final winner alongside a panel of expert judges.

One of the judges Sara O’Connor, from Consonance.app and BookPenPals, said: “There should not be a wall between creatives and code. If you can enable people from the arts to embrace technology, then powerful innovation is unlocked.”

Nesta launched Alternarratives in October 2019 seeking ways to encourage young people to read more via accessible and familiar mediums, technology and language. In one of their recent reports the National Literacy Trust found that reading enjoyment levels in children and young people had continued to decline and are at their lowest since 2013, only 53% said they enjoyed reading in 2019 vs 58.63% in 2016. Daily reading levels are also at their lowest, with just 25.8% of children in 2019 saying they read daily in their free time.

Fran Sanderson, Director Arts & Culture Programmes and Investments, Nesta, said: “This competition was a leap into the unknown for us, and we were so impressed with the inventiveness, ingenuity and resilience of all the shortlisted creators. The nine final projects showed us that we could generate genuinely new content, and the format helped support the creatives to take risks and explore what new forms make possible; and even within the three winning projects we love the breadth of experiences.

“We also think the projects show real promise to engage teenagers who might be losing interest in reading (or writing!), and would love to do more work to investigate this. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone who entered, to our brilliant advisory Board, and to the expert panel, who brought a real range of skills and expertise to bear with humour and humility to decide our final winner and runners up.”

ENDS

Contact:

Grant Collinson, Senior Communications Officer (Scotland), Nesta

07706 295884 [email protected]

Gavin Inglis is available for further comment.

The nine finalist were:

Viccy Adams, Edinburgh - Explore an abandoned theme park in Berlin while you listen to this audio short story of teenage self-discovery. Spree is designed to be experienced on a computer: get your laptop out, turn up the volume and enjoy getting lost.

John Dinneen, London - Introducing the Insta Short, for a new generation of storytellers. This first-of-a-kind, contemporary Instagram short story tells the fictional account of Nel, an aspiring artist who finds support for her artwork online. Nel’s account is inseparable from social media and so naturally told through it. At the end of it all, Nel’s story will leave you ever more conflicted about the possibilities and the dangers of life lived online.

Emma Hill, Manchester - “I have ten minutes to tell you everything.” After Words is a story to a young person, from the adult who cares for them, designed to last a lifetime of them being apart from each other. Read the story once straight through, and then read it again slowly, many times, exploring all the links on the page. Each read through tells a different piece of the story, exploring connection, distance and the stories we leave behind.

Rachael Hodge and Felicity Brown, Oxford [RUNNERS UP] - WillPlay: Romeo & Juliet will take the form of a WhatsApp-style group chat, allowing young people to engage with Shakespeare’s story and interact with his characters via a familiar, accessible medium. The reader/player will be cast as a character in three key scenes, invited to take part in the conversation, in order to move through the narrative, sending it in new and exciting directions.

Gavin Inglis, Edinburgh [WINNER] - The Reader Remix invites active participation in an audiobook by adding layers of music beneath the narration, which the reader can manipulate. The R&D period of this project will produce new spoken and musical content, and experiment with existing tools for their delivery.

Thomas McMullan, London [HIGHLY COMMENDED] - The Unsettled Ground. A file lands on your desktop: the last documents of the journalist Angus Bead. A small town has been wiped off the map, and you must unravel what happened by searching through Bead’s articles, diaries, notes, strange stories and troubling testimony. Draw your own connections. Read like a detective.

Jasmine Richards, Oxford - Earworm is an immersive short story experience on your phone that tells the tale of Ayesha and a creature called Earworm. The Earworm reveals people’s true intentions through sound and music. Using small sections of text, chat stories, and immersive soundscapes with embedded audio cues the reader will learn the truth of Earworm and the secrets of those around Ayesha. The reader will also get to produce their own piece of music.

Ben Samuels at Limbik Theatre, London - The Garden combines the written word with ambisonic, spatial audio, bringing a new layer of immersion to the act of reading. The dark, magic realism of The Garden of Earthly Delights is designed to be accompanied by an ambisonic audio soundtrack, played through headphones linked to a phone or tablet. The soundscape supports the narrative, locating, placing, and immersing them within the world of the story.

Shane Strachan, Aberdeen - Do we control technology or does it control us? Jenna took part in IMBED-X’s tech experiment in January 2020 and has since vanished. Adam needs Instagram, Google and you to help find her in this thrilling online mystery. Told across multiple Instagram stories and accounts, this narrative encourages readers to use online tools such as Google Translate and Google Books to help find Jenna by harnessing the power of language, literature and digital connection. Along the way, the story also encourages young readers to reflect on how embedded technology is in their lives and to question whether or not they have an over-reliance on it.

About Nesta

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society. We've spent over 20 years working out the best ways to make change happen through research and experimenting, and we've applied that to our work in innovation policy, health, education, government innovation and the creative economy and arts. Nesta is based in the UK and supported by a financial endowment. We work with partners around the globe to bring bold ideas to life to change the world for good.