Hawthornden Prize | |
---|---|
Awarded for | For "imaginative literature" (poetry or prose) by British, Irish or British-based authors. |
First awarded | 1919 |
Website | www |
The Hawthornden Prize, one of Britain's oldest literary awards, was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender.[1] This £15,000 prize is awarded annually to a British, Irish or British-based author for a work of "imaginative literature" – including poetry, novels, history, biography and creative non-fiction – published in the previous calendar year. The prize is for a book in English, not for a translation. Previous winners of the prize are excluded from the shortlist. Unlike other major literary awards, the Hawthornden Prize does not solicit submissions.[2] There have been several gap years without a recipient (1945–57, 1959, 1966, 1971–73, and 1984–87).[3]
The Hawthornden Prize, along with the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, are Britain's oldest literary awards.[4] It offered £100 in 1936, in 1995 was worth £2,000 and by 2017 had increased to £15,000.[5][6][7] It was formerly administered by the Hawthornden Trust set up by Warrender,[8] and sponsored by the private trust of Drue Heinz.[7] It is currently administered by Hawthornden Foundation, established by Drue Heinz.[2]