The Chris Al-Aswad Prize was awarded last Friday — the inaugural winner is the very deserving Johanna Harness, creator of the #amwriting community.

If you haven’t heard of it before, the Chris Al-Aswad Prize is an annual award for outstanding contribution to breaking down barriers in the arts. Curated by the eight cuts gallery, the prize is named after Chris Al-Aswad (founder of Escape Into Life), and recognises those individuals and projects who follow Chris’ ideals of fostering community spirit and appreciation for art and literature.

As a long-standing member of the #amwriting community, I have long admired Johanna’s generosity, support and enthusiasm — she has created, on twitter, a space for writers from all backgrounds to discuss, connect and share their experiences. It goes without saying that I think this is a very deserving win.

As Johanna so eloquently puts it:

I don’t care what you write or how you write it. I don’t care if you’re a planner or a pantster. I don’t care how much formal education you’ve completed. I don’t care how old you are or how long you’ve been writing, if you’re a newbie or a sage. You don’t have to prove your credentials to be included. You do, however, have to show up and write alongside other writers on twitter. You have to say, “Here I am. I’m writing too.” And we say “welcome.” That’s all there is. It’s what we do.

For more information, see the #amwriting FAQ, or check out the accompanying website — because all of us are amwriters.

If you’re wondering what the Novel Push Initiative (NPI) is, it’s a community project created by Nick Enlowe which aims to help writers increase their daily wordcounts.

For the month of October, Nick will be running yet another round. I’ve taken part twice before, although the last time I tried, my life exploded in my face and I had to drop out early. But now that I have settled into my new job, the time has come for me to knuckle down and improve my daily writing habits.

What really works about NPI is that everyone sets their own goals and thus you are competeing solely against yourself. You get to write in a group, have that community support, without the anxiety of comparing your performance to others.

My goal for the month of October is to write at least 200 words every day.

You can follow along using hashtag #novelpi on twitter, and of course if you want to take part, today is the last day to sign up!