The winners of this year’s Society of Authors’ Awards have been announced.
The awards recognise authors at all stages of their careers, for works of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, across a variety of genres.
ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award
Winner: Liadan Ní Chuinn for ‘Amalur’ (Granta Books)
Runner-up: JG Lynas for ‘King of All Hogs’
Betty Trask Prize
The Betty Trask Prize is presented for a first novel by a writer under 35.
Winner: Harriet Armstrong for To Rest Our Minds and Bodies (Les Fugitives)
Cholmondeley Awards
The Cholmondeley Awards for Poets were founded by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966 to recognise the achievement and distinction of individual poets.
Winners:
Nick Makoha
Jack Mapanje
Kim Moore
André Naffis-Sahely
Joelle Taylor
Eric Gregory Awards
The Eric Gregory Awards, for a collection by poets under the age of 30, were founded in 1960 by the late Dr Eric Gregory for the encouragement of young poets.
Winners:
Jack Cooper for 16 Psyche
Ellie Grant for The Waiting Game
Bethany Handley for Cling Film (Seren Books)
Rency Raquid for Rot Takes Time
Anna Stockdale for Smithereens
Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize
The Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize is awarded to a UK or Irish writer, or a writer currently resident in those countries, for a novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home.
Winner: Salma Ibrahim for Salutation Road (Mantle, Pan Macmillan)
Runner-up: Jadelin Gangbo for Ground (Jacaranda Books)
McKitterick Prize
The McKitterick Prize is awarded for a first novel, published or unpublished, by a writer over 40. The winner receives £4,000, the runner-up £2,000, with each shortlisted author receiving £1,000.
Winner: Vijay Khurana for The Passenger Seat (Peninsula Press)
Runner-up: Patrick Ryan for Buckeye (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Queen’s Knickers Award
The Queen’s Knickers Award is an annual prize for an outstanding children’s original illustrated book for ages 0-7.
Winner: X. Fang for We Are Definitely Human (Pushkin Children’s Books)
Runners-up: Katie Clapham and illustrator Nadia Shireen for The Tour at School (Walker Books)
Somerset Maugham Awards
W. Somerset Maugham set up a fund in 1947 to enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience of foreign countries. The awards are given for a published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry.
The winners each receive £2,666.
Winners:
Tom Bailey for Please Do Not Touch or Feed the Horses (Poetry London Editions)
Gurnaik Johal for Saraswati (Serpent’s Tail, Profile Books)
Alice Loxton for Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England’s Lost Queen (Macmillan, Pan Macmillan)
Oluwaseun Olayiwola for Strange Beach (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Lucy Rose for The Lamb (Orion, Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
Grace Spence Green for To Exist As I Am (Profile Books, Wellcome Collection)
Travelling Scholarships
The Travelling Scholarships were established in 1944 to enable British creative writers to keep in touch with their colleagues abroad.
Winners:
Kole Fulmine
Rosalind Harvey
Amber Husain
JC Niala
Florence Scordoulis
Louise Tickle
Nadine White
Lillian Wilkie
Rukhsana Yasmin
Buy titles from the winning and shortlisted authors here.
About the Society of Authors
The Society of Authors is the UK trade union for more than 12,500 writers, illustrators and literary translators, at all stages of their careers. We’ve been advising individuals and speaking out for the profession since 1884.
For more information, visit www.societyofauthors.org.
And see here for more News articles on Writing.ie.
