REACHING new audiences can be a hard slog for songwriters and spoken word artists, but a new initiative by Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Culture Matters might ease that burden a little.

The new Bread and Roses Songwriting and Spoken Word Award, open to everyone regardless of trade union membership, aims to encourage songwriters and spoken-word performers to write material meaningful to working-class people and communities and to encourage those communities to engage more with songwriting and spoken word.

There's a £100 cash prize for each of the top five entries to be judged by CWU and Culture Matters, with the winners performing at the CWU conference in Bournemouth in April.

Welcoming the initiative, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “The arts and culture generally are vital to the labour movement and working-class communities across the country.

“Good access to the arts, sports and other cultural activities are part of the social wage. State support needs to be rebalanced so that working people everywhere can enjoy cheap, accessible and good quality provision.

“We're sponsoring this award because we want to encourage our members in the CWU and working people everywhere to express themselves creatively on themes that matter to them as workers.

“So get writing and get performing and send your entries in!”

The deadline for entries (£5 fee) is February 2 and details are available from Culture Matters, culturematters.org.uk