2014 is the third year in which the UEA John Jarrold Prize for Literature has been awarded and this year’s recipient is Mitchell Johnson.

Dr Jacob Huntley, Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the UEA said

“Mitch was an eminently popular student with both his peers and tutors and his critical and creative abilities have been consistently impressive throughout his three years of study. I had the pleasure of marking his exemplary creative writing dissertation this year, which he is currently expanding into a novel.”

Mitchell outlined his recent experience of the BA degree in English Literature and Creative Writing saying “My final year studies were greatly influenced by an inspiring module on children’s literature held during the autumn semester, with the result that three of the four modules I studied developed some connection with children’s literature. My creative writing dissertation, for example, was narrated by a child working in an Indonesian sweatshop, and has since been expanded into a 35,000 word children’s book that I am currently revising. Similarly, my critical dissertation explored how anthropomorphism in children’s literature might affect our perception and treatment of certain species (the pig, in this instance). This dissertation was awarded the ‘Prize for the Best Critical Dissertation (post-1789) by a Final Year Undergraduate Student’, and will hopefully be condensed into an article for the Huffington Post later this year. The only module not to follow the children’s literature theme was my creative writing (prose) workshopping module, for which I submitted short stories about the war in Afghanistan and grief/loneliness in old age.

Looking ahead, I am hoping to apply for the 2015/16 Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) MA at the University of East Anglia.

Totally coincidentally, Mitchell has worked in Jarrold’s Pilch Sports whilst studying for his degree and plans to continue do so whilst developing his writing career.

Picture: left to right: Mitchell Johnson, Caroline Jarrold, Dr Jacob Huntley