Sydney Low from Victoria, Canada has been shortlisted in the Page Turner Awards Writing Award for her Sci-Fi manuscript, H0M3 FR33.
Sydney entered the Page Turner Awards, where published authors and unpublished writers of fiction and non-fiction across all genres can enter their writing to get discovered by high-profile judges from the literary world.
H0M3 FR33 is about set in the year 2173, where a group of friends attempt to smuggle people out from under a ten-person military dictatorship without getting themselves caught, killed, or turned into one of the government's rumoured human experiments in the process.
Sydney started writing H0M3 FR33 in high school when she was sixteen, during which time many of her close friends were struggling with mental health issues. She saw this as a product of the world around them, of the current systems in place, as well as pressure from family to be perfect. This influenced a lot of the themes in H0M3 FR33, which discusses perfectionism, expectations, mental health and suicide.
Her hope was, in her book, she could show that there was a better way, and that this didn't have to be the world we live in. That when the new generation rises up together, they can make a change.
Sydney is also a proud member of the LGBT community, but growing up she found there was very little, if any representation in the books she read. In fact, she didn't see a LGBT character in a book until she was sixteen. Her goal is to write as many LGBT characters into books as she can physically fit, so that younger audiences will be able to read books and see themselves in them.
Sydney said, “The awards have been a fantastic opportunity for me as a writer. They've encouraged me to have more of an online presence so I could share my excitement and have also given me a huge step forward towards becoming a published author. I'm so unbelievably excited and I can't wait for people to meet my characters!”
Read more about Sydney and her story:
https://pageturnerawards.com/writing-award-finalists/sydney-e-low
The Page Turner Awards, sponsored by ProWritingAid, gives writers and authors the chance to enter unpublished or published fiction and non-fiction books, where a group of literary agents and publishers will read the work.
Judges are carefully selected literary agents and publishers who are looking for writers to represent and publish, plus influencers in the publishing industry.
Founder of Page Turner Awards and award-winning novelist, Paula Wynne said: “There are writers from all walks of life, from manual labourers to academics. All with stories to tell, most of them heart-warming and moving. We’re proud that our Awards celebrates excellent writing and helps writers and authors to get their stories discovered.”
Success stories from this year’s awards include three writers winning literary representation, six writers winning a writing mentorship, five writers winning a publishing contract and thirteen independent authors winning an audiobook production.
Find out more about The Page Turner Awards: https://pageturnerawards.com. Submissions for 2021 will open on the 1st of January 2021.
