The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the "Prize", and the remainder given to one or more other writers, called the "Awards". The award was established in 1984 by the

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. , it represents over 12,000 members and ass ...

, at the bequest of the late

Betty Trask Margaret Elizabeth Lisle Trask (born Bath, 2 January 1893; died Frome, 25 January 1983) was an English writer of romance novels. Early life Betty Trask was born at 3 Park Lane in Bath, the daughter of William Trask (1859-1949), Chairman o ...

, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels. The awards are given to traditional or romantic novels, rather than those of an experimental style, and can be for published or unpublished works.

List of award and prize winners

Note: Beginning in 2009, the "Betty Trask Prize" is given to one author; the remaining receive the "Betty Trask Award". A blue ribbon () indicates the winner for that year.

1980s

1984 * Ronald Frame for ''Winter Journey'' - £6,750 * Clare Nonhebel for ''Cold Showers'' - £6,750 *

James Buchan James Buchan (born 11 June 1954) is a Scottish novelist and historian. Biography Buchan is a son of the late William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir, and grandson of John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, the Scottish novelist and diplomat. He has se ...

for ''A Parish of Rich Women '' - £1,000 * Helen Harris for ''Playing Fields in Winter'' - £1,000 * Gareth Jones for ''The Disinherited'' - £1,000 *

Simon Rees Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

for ''The Devil's Looking Glass'' - £1,000 1985 *

Susan Kay Susan Kay (born 1952) is a British writer, the author of two award-winning novels: ''Legacy'' and '' Phantom''. Biography Kay was born on 1952 in Manchester, England. She worked as a primary school teacher until leaving to bring up a family, a ...

for ''Legacy'' - £12,500 * Gary Armitage for ''A Season of Peace'' - £1,000 *

Elizabeth Ironside Lady Catherine Manning is a British writer, who has written five mystery novels under the pseudonym Elizabeth Ironside. Early life Catherine Manning is the daughter of a general practitioner doctor, and grew up in a Northamptonshire village. ...

for ''A Very Private Enterprise'' - £1,000 * Alice Mitchell for ''Instead of Eden'' - £1,000 * Caroline Stickland for ''The Standing Hills'' - £1,000 * George Schweiz for ''The Earth Abides For Ever'' - £1,000 1986 *

Tim Parks Timothy Harold Parks (born 19 December 1954) is a British novelist, translator, author and professor of literature. Career He is the author of eighteen novels (notably ''Europa'', which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1997). His first ...

for ''Tongues of Flame'' - £9,000 *

Patricia Ferguson Patricia Josephine Ferguson (born 24 September 1958, Glasgow) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Maryhill constituency from 1999 until 2011 and for Glasgow Maryhill and Springb ...

for ''Family, Myths and Legends'' - £4,500 * Philippa Blake for ''Mzungu's Wife'' - £1,000 * Matthew Kneale for ''Whore Banquets'' - £1,000 *

J. F. McLaughlin ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

for ''The Road to Dilmun'' - £1,000 *

Kate Saunders Kate Saunders (born 4 May 1960 in London) is an English writer, actress and journalist. She has won the Betty Trask Award and the Costa Children's Book Award and been twice shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Biography Kate Saunders is the da ...

for ''The Prodigal Father'' - £1,000 1987 *

James Maw James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

for ''Hard Luck'' - £8,000 * Peter Benson for ''The Levels'' - £4,500 *

Helen Flint Helen Flint (January 14, 1898 – September 9, 1967) was an American actress. Flint debuted as a member of the chorus in the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' when she was 17. Her work on Broadway included more than 20 productions between 1921 and 1946. Fl ...

for ''Return Journey'' - £4,500 *

Catherine Arnold Catherine Elizabeth Jane Arnold, (born 10 November 1978) is a British academic administrator and former diplomat. Since October 2019, she has been the Master of St Edmund's College, Cambridge: she is the fifteenth person to hold that post and ...

for ''Lost Time'' - £1,000 *

H. S. Bhabra Hargurchet Singh Bhabra (7 June 1955 – 1 June 2000) was a British Asian writer and broadcaster who settled in Canada. Bhabra was born in Mumbai, India, and moved to England with his family in 1957. The family eventually settled in Beare Gr ...

for ''Gestures'' - £1,000 *

Lucy Pinney Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luci ...

for ''The Pink Stallion'' - £1,000 1988 * Alex Martin for ''The General Interruptor MS'' - £6,500 *

Candia McWilliam Candia Frances Juliet McWilliam (born 1 July 1955) is a Scottish author. Her father was the architectural writer and academic Colin McWilliam. Literary career Born in Edinburgh, McWilliam was educated at St George's School for Girls in the c ...

for ''A Case of Knives'' - £6,500 *

Georgina Andrewes Georgina may refer to: Names *Georgina (name), a feminine given name Places Australia * Georgina, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Boulia, Queensland * Georgina Basin, a large sedimentary basin in Australia * Georgina River, a river ...

for ''Behind the Waterfall'' - £2,000 * James Friel for ''Left of North'' - £2,000 *

Glenn Patterson Glenn Patterson (born 1961) is a writer from Belfast, best known as a novelist. Biography Patterson was born in Belfast where he attended Methodist College Belfast. He graduated from the University of East Anglia (BA, MA), where he was a produc ...

for ''Burning Your Own'' - £2,000 * Susan Webster for ''Small Tales of a Town'' - £2,000 1989 * Nigel Watts for ''The Life Game'' - £10,000 * William Riviere for ''Watercolour Sky'' - £5,000 *

Paul Houghton Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

for ''Harry's Last Wedding'' - £2,000 *

Alasdair McKee Alasdair is a Scottish Gaelic given name. The name is a Gaelic form of ''Alexander'' which has long been a popular name in Scotland. The personal name ''Alasdair'' is often Anglicised as '' Alistair'', '' Alastair'', and ''Alaster''.''A Dictionary ...

for ''Uncle Henry's Last Stand'' - £2,000

1990s

1990 *

Robert McLiam Wilson Robert McLiam Wilson (born Robert Wilson, 24 February 1964) is a Northern List of Irish novelists, Irish novelist. Biography He was born in the New Lodge, Belfast, New Lodge district of Belfast and then moved to Turf Lodge and other places in ...

for ''

Ripley Bogle ''Ripley Bogle'' is the debut novel of Northern Irish author Robert McLiam Wilson, published in 1989 in the UK although not until 1998 in the US. Written when he was 26 it is arguably his most acclaimed, winning the Rooney Prize and the Hughe ...

'' - £16,000 * Elizabeth Chadwick for ''The Wild Hunt'' - £3,000 * Rosemary Cohen for ''No Strange Land'' - £3,000 *

Nicholas Shakespeare Nicholas William Richmond Shakespeare FRSL (born 3 March 1957) is a British novelist and biographer, described by the '' Wall Street Journal'' as "one of the best English novelists of our time". Biography Born in Worcester, England to diplomat ...

for ''The Vision of Elena Silves'' - £3,000 1991 *

Amit Chaudhuri Amit Chaudhuri (born 15 May 1962) is a novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, singer, and music composer from India. He was Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia from 2006 to 2021, Since 2020, he has ...

for ''A Strange and Sublime Address'' - £10,000 * Mark Swallow for ''Teaching Little Fang'' - £7,000 *

Suzannah Dunn Suzannah Dunn is an author and graduate of the MA creative writing programme at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, United Kingdom. She was Director of the MA in Novel Writing at the University of Manchester 1999-2005. Dunn won a Betty T ...

for ''Quite Contrary'' - £2,000 *

Lesley Glaister Lesley Glaister (born 4 October 1956,) is a British novelist, poet and playwright. She has written 15 novels, ''Blasted Things'' (2020) being the most recent, one play and numerous short stories and radio plays. She is a lecturer in creative writ ...

for ''Honour Thy Father'' - £2,000 * Simon Mason for ''The Great English Nude'' - £2,000 *

Nino Ricci Nino Pio Ricci (born 1959) is a Canadian novelist who lives in Toronto, Ontario.Nino Ricci's
...

for '' Lives of the Saints'' - £2,000 1992 * Peter M. Rosenburg for ''Kissing Through a Pane of Glass'' - £5,000 *

Tibor Fischer Tibor Fischer (born 15 November 1959) is a British novelist and short story writer. In 1993, he was selected by the literary magazine Granta as one of the 20 best young British writers while his novel '' Under the Frog'' was featured on the Book ...

for ''

Under the Frog ''Under the Frog'' is British-born Hungarian writer Tibor Fischer's debut novel, it was published in 1992. The book was a winner of the 1992 Betty Trask Award and was the first debut novel to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel is a ...

'' - £3,000 * Liane Jones for ''The Dream Stone'' - £3,000 *

Eugene Mullan Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

for ''The Last of His Line'' - £3,000 *

Edward St Aubyn Edward St Aubyn (born 14 January 1960) is an English author and journalist. He is the author of ten novels, including notably the semi-autobiographical ''Patrick Melrose'' novels. In 2006, ''Mother's Milk'' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. ...

for ''Never Mind'' - £3,000 1993 *

Mark Blackaby Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

for ''You'll Never be Here Again'' - £10,000 *

Andrew Cowan Andrew Cowan (13 December 1936 – 15 October 2019) was a Scottish rally driver, and the founder and senior director of Mitsubishi Ralliart until his retirement on 30 November 2005. Early years Cowan was raised in Duns, a small town in the ...

for '' Pig'' - £7,000 *

Simon Corrigan Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

for ''Tommy Was Here'' - £5,000 *

Joanna Briscoe Joanna Briscoe (born 1963) is an English writer who has written four novels and several short stories and has worked as a freelance journalist. Her first novel, ''Mothers and Other Lovers'', won a Betty Trask Award in 1993, and her third, ''Sleep ...

for ''Mothers and Other Lovers'' - £2,000 * Olivia Fane for ''Landing on Clouds'' - £2,000 1994 *

Colin Bateman Colin Bateman (known mononymously as Bateman) is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Biography Born on 13 June 1962, Bateman attended Bangor Grammar School leaving at 16 when he was hired ...

for '' Divorcing Jack'' - £12,000 *

Nadeem Aslam Nadeem Aslam FRSL (born 11 July 1966 in Gujranwala, Pakistan) is a British Pakistani novelist. His debut novel, ''Season of the Rainbirds'', won the Betty Trask and the Author's Club First Novel Award. His critically acclaimed second novel '' Ma ...

for ''Season of the Rainbirds'' - £10,000 *

Guy Burt Guy Burt (born 14 July 1972) is an English author and BAFTA award-winning screenwriter who has worked on series such as ''The Borgias'', and '' Wire in the Blood'' and is currently working on adapting the ''Alex Rider'' TV series. Early lif ...

for ''

After the Hole ''After the Hole'' (also known as ''The Hole'') is a 1993 psychological horror novel by English author Guy Burt. The book tells the story of a group of private school students who find themselves trapped in the school's abandoned cellar, see ...

'' - £1,000 *

Frances Liardet Frances E. Liardet (born 10 December 1962) is a writer and translator of Arabic literature. She studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has translated several book-length works, including two books by the modernist Egyptian ...

for ''The Game'' - £1,000 *

Jonathan Rix Jonathan may refer to: * Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

for ''Some Hope'' - £1,000 1995 * Robert Newman for ''Dependence Day'' - £10,000 *

Mark Behr Mark Behr (19 October 1963 – 27 November 2015) was a Tanzanian-born writer who grew up in South Africa. He was professor of English literature and creative writing at Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee. He also taught in the MA program at the U ...

for '' The Smell of Apples'' - £8,000 *

Martina Evans Martina Evans (born 1961) is an Irish poet and novelist who lives in London. Biography Evans (née Cotter) was born in Burnfort, County Cork in 1961, the youngest of ten children. Her parents had a shop, bar and petrol pumps in the village. Her ...

for ''Midnight Feast'' - £3,000 *

Rohit Manchanda Rohit (Devanagri: रोहित), ) is a given name, typically male, used among Indian people. It is also used in some parts of Nepal. It is mostly used by Jains, Hindus, and Sikhs. The word "rohit" signifies the color red. It is derived f ...

for ''A Speck of Coaldust'' - £1,000 *

Juliet Thomas Juliet Capulet () is the female protagonist in William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet. She falls in love with the male protagonist Ro ...

for ''Hallelujah Jordan'' - £1,000 *

Philippa Walshe Philippa is a feminine given name meaning "lover of horses" or "horses' friend". Common alternative spellings include '' Filippa'' and ''Phillipa''. Less common is '' Filipa'' and even ''Philippe'' (cf. the French spelling of ''Philippa of Guelders ...

for ''The Latecomer'' - £1,000 *

Madeleine Wickham Madeleine Sophie Wickham, known by her pen name Sophie Kinsella, is an English author. The first two novels in her best-selling Shopaholic (novels), Shopaholic series, ''The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic'' and ''Shopaholic Abroad'', were a ...

for ''The Tennis Party'' - £1,000 1996 *

John Lanchester John Henry Lanchester (born 25 February 1962) is a British journalist and novelist. He was born in Hamburg, brought up in Hong Kong and educated in England; between 1972 and 1980 at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, then at St John's College, ...

for ''

The Debt to Pleasure ''The Debt to Pleasure'' is a 1996 novel by John Lanchester published by Picador. The novel won the 1996 Whitbread Book Award in the First Novel category and the 1997 Hawthornden Prize. It was described as a skilful and wickedly funny account of t ...

'' - £8,000 *

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, ...

for ''

Anita and Me ''Anita and Me'' is Meera Syal's debut novel, and was first published in 1996. It is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on Syal's childhood in the mining village of Essington, Staffordshire, which won the Betty Trask Award. The story revolves ...

'' - £7,000 *

Rhidian Brook Rhidian Brook (born 1964) is a Welsh novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster. Biography Brook was born in Tenby in 1964. He attended Churcher's College in Hampshire, leaving in 1982. His first novel, ''The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones'' (HarperCol ...

for ''The Testimony of Taliesin Jones'' - £5,000 *

Louis Caron Buss Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

for ''The Luxury of Exile'' - £5,000 1997 *

Alex Garland Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English writer and filmmaker. He rose to prominence as a novelist in the late 1990s with his novel '' The Beach'', which led some critics to call Garland a key voice of Generation X. He subsequ ...

for '' The Beach'' - £12,000 * Josie Barnard for ''Poker Face'' - £5,000 *

Ardashir Vakil Ardashir "Ardu" Vakil is an Indian-born British author whose first novel, '' Beach Boy'', won the Betty Trask Award in 1997 and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award. His second novel, ''One Day'' was shortlisted for the Encore A ...

for ''

Beach Boy ''Beach Boy'' (1997) is the debut novel of Indian novelist Ardashir Vakil. It is a coming-of-age story (''bildungsroman'') set in 1970s Bombay, the novel won the Betty Trask Award. It was first published by Penguin Books Penguin Books is a ...

'' - £5,000 *

Diran Adebayo Oludiran "Diran" Adebayo FRSL (born 30 August 1968) is a British novelist, cultural critic and academic, best known for his tales of London and the lives of African diasporans. His work has been characterised by its interest in multiple cultural ...

for ''Some Kind of Black'' - £1,500 *

Sanjida O'Connell Sanjida is a Bangladeshi feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Sanjida Islam Sanjida Islam ( bn, সানজিদা ইসলাম) (born 1 April 1996) is a Bangladeshi cricketer who plays for the Bangladesh women's ...

for ''Theory of Mind'' - £1,500 1998 *

Kiran Desai Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971) is an Indian author. Her novel ''The Inheritance of Loss'' won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 "mo ...

for '' Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard'' for £10,000 *

Nick Earls Nicholas Francis Ward Earls (born 8 October 1963) is a novelist from Brisbane, Australia, who writes humorous popular fiction about everyday life. The majority of his novels are set in his home town of Brisbane. He fronted a major Brisbane tour ...

for '' Zigzag Street'' - £8,000 *

Phil Whitaker Phil Whitaker (born 1966) is an English novelist and physician. He is also a journalist. Education and writings Whitaker, born in Kent, qualified in medicine at the University of Nottingham in 1990 and at the University of Oxford, where he under ...

for ''

Eclipse of the Sun A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mon ...

'' - £5,000 *

Gail Anderson-Dargatz Gail Kathryn Anderson-Dargatz (born November 14, 1963) is a Canadian novelist.

for ''

The Cure for Death by Lightning ''The Cure for Death by Lightning'' is the debut novel from Canadian author Gail Anderson-Dargatz. It was nominated for the Giller Prize, was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and became a bestseller in Canada (selling over 100,000 copies) ...

'' - £1,000 *

Tobias Hill Tobias Hill (born 30 March 1970 in London, England) is a British poet, essayist, writer of short stories and novelist. Life Tobias Hill was born in Kentish Town, in North London, to parents of German Jewish and English extraction: his maternal ...

for ''Underground'' - £1,000 1999 *

Elliot Perlman Elliot Perlman (born 7 May 1964) is an Australian author and barrister. He has written four novels (''Three Dollars'', '' Seven Types of Ambiguity'', ''The Street Sweeper'' and ''Maybe the Horse Will Talk''), one short story collection (''The Re ...

for ''

Three Dollars ''Three Dollars'' is a 2005 Australian film directed by Robert Connolly and starring David Wenham, Sarah Wynter, and Frances O'Connor. It was based on a 1998 novel of the same name by Elliot Perlman. It won the 2005 Australian Film Institute ...

'' - £7,000 *

Catherine Chidgey Catherine Chidgey (born 8 April 1970) is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer and university lecturer. Her honours include the inaugural Prize in Modern Letters; the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France; Best First Book at bot ...

for ''In a Fishbone Church'' - £6,000 *

Giles Foden Giles Foden (born 11 January 1967)George Stade and Karen Karbiener (eds), ''Encyclopaedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present'', 2nd edn, Infobase Publishing, 2010, p. 176. is an English author, best known for his novel ''The Last King of S ...

for ''

The Last King of Scotland ''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden, published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction an ...

'' - £4,000 * Dennis Bock for ''Olympia'' - £3,000 *

Rajeev Balasubramanyam Rajeev Balasubramanyam (born 1974) is a British writer. His novels include, ''In Beautiful Disguises'' (Bloomsbury, 2000), ''The Dreamer'' (HarperCollins, 2010), ''Starstruck'' (ThePigeonhole.com, 2016) and ''Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss'' ...

for ''In Beautiful Disguises'' - £2,500 *

Sarah Waters Sarah Ann Waters (born 21 July 1966) is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as '' Tipping the Velvet'' and '' Fingersmith''. Life and education Early life Sa ...

for '' Tipping the Velvet'' - £1,000

2000s

2000 *

Jonathan Tulloch Jonathan Tulloch is a British author, naturalist, and former teacher who writes regular nature features for The Times and The Tablet. His 2000 novel ''The Season Ticket'' was adapted into the film ''Purely Belter'' and serialised on BBC Radio 4. ...

for ''The Season Ticket'' - £10,000 *

Julia Leigh Julia Leigh (born 1970) is an Australian novelist, film director and screenwriter. In 2011 her debut feature film '' Sleeping Beauty'' was selected to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. She is an author of two award-wi ...

for '' The Hunter'' - £7,000 *

Susan Elderkin Susan Elderkin (born 1968 in Crawley) is an English author of two critically acclaimed novels, her first, ''Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains'' won a Betty Trask Prize and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, her second, ''The Voices'' ...

for ''

Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains ''Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains'' is a novel by English author Susan Elderkin published by Fourth Estate (imprint), Fourth Estate. It won a Betty Trask Award in 2000 and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for fiction. The novel has been publi ...

'' - £4,000 * Galaxy Craze for ''By The Shore'' - £2,000 * Nicholas Griffin for ''The Requiem Shark'' - £2,000 2001 * Zadie Smith for ''

White Teeth ''White Teeth'' is a 2000 novel by the British author Zadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones—and their families in London. The novel centres on Britai ...

'' - £8,000 * Justin Hill for ''The Drink and Dream Teahouse'' - £5,000 * Maggie O'Farrell for '' After You'd Gone'' - £5,000 * Vivien Kelly for ''Take One Young Man'' - £4,000 * Mohsin Hamid for '' Moth Smoke'' - £2,500 *

Patrick Neate Patrick Neate (born 1970) is a British novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and podcaster. Early life Born and raised as a Roman Catholic in South London, he was educated at St. Paul's School and Cambridge University. He spent a gap year i ...

for ''Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko'' - £2,500 2002 *

Hari Kunzru Hari Mohan Nath Kunzru (born 1969) is a British novelist and journalist. He is the author of the novels ''The Impressionist'', ''Transmission'', ''My Revolutions'', '' Gods Without Men'', ''White Tears''David Robinson"Interview: Hari Kunzru, au ...

for ''

The Impressionist ''The Impressionist'' is Hari Kunzru's debut novel, first published in 2002. Kunzru received the Betty Trask Award and the Somerset Maugham Award for the book's publication. Plot The novel concerns Pran Nath (known throughout the book by several ...

'' - £8,000 *

Rachel Seiffert Rachel Seiffert (born 1971) is a British novelist and short story writer. Biography She was born in 1971 in Oxford to German and Australian parents, and was brought up bilingually. She lives in London. Publications and awards Seiffert has p ...

for '' The Dark Room'' - £5,000 *

Shamim Sarif Shamim Sarif (born 24 September 1969) is a British novelist and filmmaker of South Asian and South African heritage. Her work often focuses on various aspects of identity including gender, race, and sexuality. It often draws upon her own person ...

for ''The World Unseen'' - £4,000 * Helen Cross for ''

My Summer of Love ''My Summer of Love'' is a 2004 British drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the romantic relationship between two ...

'' - £2,000 * Chloe Hooper for ''A Child's Book of True Crime'' - £2,000 * Susanna Jones for '' The Earthquake Bird'' - £2,000 * Gwendoline Riley for ''Cold Water'' - £2,000 2003 *

Jon McGregor Jon McGregor (born 1976) is a British novelist and short story writer. In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize, making him then the youngest ever contender. His second and fourth novels were longlisted for the Booker Prize ...

for ''

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things ''If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things'' is British writer Jon McGregor's first novel, which was first published by Bloomsbury in 2002. It portrays a day in the life of a suburban British street, with the plot alternately following the lives of t ...

'' - £10,000 * Sarah Hall for ''Haweswater'' - £6,000 *

Stephanie Merritt Stephanie Jane Merritt (born 1974 in Surrey) is an English literary critic and writer who has contributed to publications including ''The Times'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', the ''New Statesman'', ''New Humanist'' and ''Die Welt''. She was Deputy ...

for ''Gaveston'' - £4,000 * Elizabeth Garner for ''Nightdancing'' - £2,000 *

Zoë Strachan Zoë Strachan (born 1975) is a Scottish novelist and journalist. She also teaches creative writing at the University of Glasgow. Biography Strachan grew up in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. She studied Archaeology and Philosophy at the University of ...

for ''Negative Space'' - £2,000 *

Adam Thirlwell Adam Thirlwell (born 22 August 1978) is a British novelist. His work has been translated into thirty languages. He has twice been named as one of ''Granta''s Best of Young British Novelists. In 2015 he received the E.M. Forster Award from the Am ...

for ''

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

'' - £1,000 2004 * Louise Dean for ''Becoming Strangers'' - £8,000 * Hannah MacDonald for ''The Sun Road'' - £6,000 * Anthony Cartwright for ''The Afterglow'' - £3,000 *

Siddharth Dhanvant Sanghvi Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi (born 1977) is an Indian author. His debut novel ''The Last Song of Dusk'' (2004) won the Betty Trask Award (UK), the Premio Grinzane Cavour in Italy, and was nominated for the IMPAC Prize in Ireland. Translated int ...

for ''The Last Song of Dusk'' - £3,000 2005 * Susan Fletcher for ''Eve Green'' - £16,000 *

Diana Evans Diana Omo Evans FRSL (born 1972) is a British novelist, journalist and critic who was born and lives in London. Evans has written three full-length novels. Her first novel, ''26a'', published in 2005, won the Orange Award for New Writers, the B ...

for ''26a'' - £2,000 *

Helen Walsh Helen Walsh (born 1976) is an English novelist and film director. Her novels include ''Brass'', which won a Betty Trask Award, and ''Once Upon a Time in England'', which won a Somerset Maugham Award. Personal life Walsh was born in Warrington, C ...

for ''Brass'' - £2,000 2006 *

Nick Laird Nicholas Laird (born 1975) is a Northern Irish novelist and poet. Education Laird was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, where he attended the local comprehensive school. He then gained entry to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he init ...

for '' Utterly Monkey'' - £10,000 * Peter Hobbs for ''The Short Day Dying'' - £5,000 * Nicola Monaghan for '' The Killing Jar'' - £5,000 2007 * Will Davis for ''My Side of the Story'' - £10,000 *

Adam Foulds Adam Samuel James Foulds FRSL ( ; born 8 October 1974) is a British novelist and poet. Biography Foulds was educated at Bancroft's School, read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford under Craig Raine, and graduated with an MA in creative w ...

for ''The Truth About These Strange Times'' - £2,500 *

Cynan Jones Cynan Jones (born 1975) is a Welsh writer, who lives and works in Ceredigion. Jones published his first novel, ''The Long Dry'', in 2006. In 2010 he published '' Le Cose Che Non Vogliamo Più (Things We Don't Want Anymore)'' in Italian. He later ...

for ''The Long Dry'' - £2,500 *

Julie Maxwell Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhav ...

for ''You Can Live Forever'' - £2,500 *

Karen Mcleod Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic la ...

for ''In Search of the Missing Eyelash'' - £2,500 2008 *

David Szalay David Szalay (born 1974 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Hungarian/English writer. His surname is pronounced SOL-loy. Life Szalay was born in Montreal in 1974 to a Canadian mother and a Hungarian father. His family then moved to Beirut. They were fo ...

for ''London and the South-East'' - £10,000 * Ross Raisin for ''God's Own Country'' - £6,000 *

Thomas Leveritt Thomas Leveritt is an Anglo-American artist who works in various media. His roots are in figurative painting, for which he has won the Carroll Medal for Portraiture from the UK's Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and other painting awards from ...

for ''The Exchange Rate Between Love and Money'' for £2,000 * Anna Ralph for ''The Floating Island'' - £2,000 2009 * Samantha Harvey for ''The Wilderness'' - £12,000 (Prize) *

Eleanor Catton Eleanor Catton (born 24 September 1985) is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International In ...

for '' The Rehearsal'' - £8,000

2010s

2010 *

Nadifa Mohamed Nadifa Mohamed ( so, Nadiifa Maxamed, ar, نظيفة محمد) (born 1981) is a Somali-British novelist. She featured on ''Granta'' magazine's list "Best of Young British Novelists" in 2013, and in 2014 on the Africa39 list of writers aged u ...

for ''Black Mamba Boy'' - £10,000 (Prize) *

Evie Wyld Evelyn Rose Strange "Evie" Wyld (born 16 June 1980) is an Anglo-Australian author. Her first novel, ''After the Fire, A Still Small Voice'', won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 2009, and her second novel, '' All the Birds, Singing'', won the ...

for ''

After the Fire, A Still Small Voice ''After the Fire, A Still Small Voice'' is the debut novel by author Evie Wyld published in August 2009 by Jonathan Cape in the UK and Pantheon Books in the US. It won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and a Betty Trask Award. and was also shortlis ...

'' - £7,000 *

Jenn Ashworth Jenn Ashworth is an English writer born in 1982 in Preston, Lancashire. In June 2018 Ashworth was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. Education At the age of 11 Ashworth informed her parents t ...

for ''A Kind of Intimacy'' - £1,500 *

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani Adaobi Tricia Obinne Nwaubani is a Nigerian novelist, humorist, essayist and journalist, who was born in 1976. Her debut novel, '' I Do Not Come To You By Chance'', won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Africa), a Bet ...

for '' I Do Not Come To You By Chance'' - £1,500 2011 * Anjali Joseph for ''

Saraswati Park ''Saraswati Park'' is a 2010 drama novel written by Anjali Joseph. Set in Mumbai, the book follows the story of Mohan Karekar, a pensive letter-writer living in the fictional housing complex of Saraswati Park. When his gay nephew, Ashish, move ...

'' - £10,000 (Prize) * Laura Barton for ''Twenty-One Locks'' - £6,000 * Simon Lelic for ''Rupture'' - £2,500 * Robert Williams for ''Luke and Jon'' - £2,500 2012 *

David Whitehouse David Bryn Whitehouse, FSA, FRGS (15 October 194117 February 2013) was a British archaeologist and senior scholar of the Corning Museum of Glass. He was director of the British School at Rome between 1974 and 1984. Early life Whitehouse was born ...

for ''Bed'' - £8,000 (Prize) *

Kalinda Ashton Kalinda Ashton is an Australian writer based in Melbourne, Victoria. She is the author of the 2009 novel ''The Danger Game'' and was joint winner of the 2012 ''Sydney Morning Herald'' best young novelist award and a Betty Trask award The Betty ...

for ''The Danger Game'' - £3,000 * Elizabeth Day for ''Scissors, Paper, Stone'' - £3,000 *

Annabel Pitcher Annabel Pitcher (born 1982) is a British children's writer. Background Pitcher was born in a village in West Yorkshire. She studied English Literature at Oxford University. Her first novel, ''My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece'', deals with the ...

for ''

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece ''My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece '' is a 2011 novel written by Annabel Pitcher. It won the 2012 Branford Boase Award, and received at least 25 other award nominations. Plot summary Ten-year-old Jamie Mathews moves to the Lake District from ...

'' for £3,000 *

Emma Jane Unsworth Emma Jane Unsworth (born 1979) is a British writer from Bury, Greater Manchester. She writes short stories and has had three novels published; ''Hungry, the Stars and Everything'', ''Animals'' and ''Adults''. Unsworth is also a screenwriter o ...

for ''Hungry the Stars and Everything'' - £3,000 2013 *

Grace McCleen Grace McCleen (born 1981) is a British novelist. She has won the Desmond Elliott Prize, Betty Trask Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. Life McCleen was brought up in a fundamentalist Christian sect in Wales and for most of her chil ...

for ''

The Land of Decoration ''The Land of Decoration'' is the debut novel by British author Grace McCleen published in 2012 by Chatto & Windus. It won the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2012 and the Betty Trask Award in 2013. It was chosen along with three American novels by ''T ...

'' - £8,000 (Prize) *

Chibundu Onuzo Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo (born 1991) is a Nigerian novelist. Her first novel, ''The Spider King's Daughter'', won a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and was longlisted for the De ...

for '' The Spider King's Daughter'' - £7,000 *

Francesca Segal Francesca Segal (born 1980) is a British author and journalist. She was raised in a Jewish community in north-west London where she still lives today. She is best known for her novel, ''The Innocents'', which won several book awards. She is the ...

for ''The Innocents'' - £2,500 * Will Wiles for ''Care of Wooden Floors'' - £2,500 2014 * Nathan Filer for ''The Shock Of The Fall'' - £10,000 (Prize) * NoViolet Bulawayo for ''We Need New Names'' - £3,750 * Sam Byers for ''Idiopathy'' - £3,750 * Mave Fellowes for ''Chaplin and Company'' - £3,750 *

Matt Greene Matthew George Greene (born May 13, 1983) is an American former professional ice hockey defenceman. Originally drafted in the second round, 44th overall, at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, he most notably served as an alternate ...

for ''Ostrich'' - £3,750 2015 * Ben Fergusson for ''The Spring of Kasper Meier'' - £10,000 (Prize) *

Emma Healey Emma Constance Healey is a British novelist. Her debut novel, ''Elizabeth is Missing'' (2014) won the annual Costa Book Award, Best First Novel. Life and career Born in London, Healey completed a foundation year at Central Saint Martins befor ...

for ''

Elizabeth is Missing ''Elizabeth Is Missing'' is a television drama film directed by Aisling Walsh, adapted by Andrea Gibb from the novel of the same name by Emma Healey. It was broadcast on 8 December 2019 on BBC One. It stars Glenda Jackson as Maud, an elderly ...

'' - £5,000 * Zoe Pilger for ''Eat My Heart Out'' - £5,000 * Simon Wroe for ''Chop Chop'' - £5,000 2016 *

Alex Christofi Alex Christofi is a British author and book editor. Early life Christofi was born in Dorset to a British mother and Cypriot father, and grew up in Bournemouth. He was educated at Bournemouth School, where his father was a teacher. He earned a deg ...

for ''Glass'' - £10,000 (Prize) *

Irenosen Okojie Irenosen Iseghohi Okojie FRSL is a Nigerian-born short story and novel writer working in London. Her stories incorporate speculative elements and also make use of her West African heritage. Her first novel, ''Butterfly Fish'' won a Betty Trask ...

for ''

Butterfly Fish The butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae; the bannerfish and coralfish are also included in this group. The approximately 129 species in 12 genera are found mostly on the reefs of the At ...

'' - £5,000 *

Natasha Pulley Natasha Pulley (born 4 December 1988) is a British author. She is best known for her debut novel, ''The Watchmaker of Filigree Street'', which won a Betty Trask Award. Education She was educated at Soham Village College, New College, Oxford, a ...

for ''The Watchmaker of Filigree Street'' - £5,000 * Lucy Wood for ''Wood for Weathering'' - £5,000 2017 * Daniel Shand for ''Fallow'' - £10,000 (Prize) *

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan Rowan Hisayo Buchanan FRSL (born June 2, 1989) is a British-American writer. Her novels include ''Harmless Like You'', which received a Betty Trask Award and the 2017 Author's Club First Novel Award, and ''Starling Days''. She is the editor of '' ...

for ''Harmless Like You'' - £3,000 *

Elnathan John Elnathan John (born 1982) is a Nigerian novelist, satirist and lawyer whose stories have twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing. Career Elnathan John was born in Kaduna, in north-west Nigeria, in 1982. He attended Ahmad ...

for ''Born on a Tuesday'' - £3,000 * Kathleen Jowitt for ''Speak Its Name'' - £3,000 * Rob McCarthy for ''The Hollow Men'' - £3,000 *

Barney Norris Barney Norris, (born 1987) is a British writer. Early life Norris was born in Chichester in West Sussex, later moving to Wiltshire where he attended Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury. He read English at Keble College, Oxford, and creative w ...

for ''Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain'' - £3,000 2018 * Omar Robert Hamilton for ''The City Always Wins'' - £10,000 (Prize) *

Sarah Day Sarah Day (born 1958) is an English-born Australian poet and teacher. She was also the poetry editor of ''Island Magazine'' for several years. Biography Sarah E Day was born in Lancashire, England, in 1958 and grew up in Hobart, Tasmania. A ...

for ''Mussolini's Island'' - £3,250 * Clare Fisher for ''All the Good Things'' - £3,250 * Eli Goldstone for ''Strange Heart Beating'' - £3,250 * Lloyd Markham for ''Bad Ideas/Chemicals'' - £3,250 *

Masande Ntshanga Masande Ngcali Ntshanga (born 25 April 1986) is a South African novelist, short story writer, poet, editor and publisher. He is the author of two novels, ''The Reactive'' (2014), which was published in five territories and won a Betty Trask Awar ...

for ''The Reactive'' - £3,250 2019 * James Clarke for ''The Litten Path'' - £10,000 (Prize) * Samuel Fisher for ''The Chameleon'' - £2,700 * Imogen Hermes Gowar for ''The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock'' - £2,700 * Ruqaya Izzidien for ''The Watermelon Boys'' - £2,700 *

Daisy Lafarge Daisy, Daisies or DAISY may refer to: Plants * ''Bellis perennis'', the common daisy, lawn daisy or English daisy, a European species Other plants known as daisy * Asteraceae, daisy family ** '' Euryops chrysanthemoides'', African bush daisy ** ' ...

for ''Paul'' - £2,700 * Rebecca Ley for ''Sweet Fruit, Sour Land'' - £2,700 * Sophie Mackintosh for ''The Water Cure'' - £2,700

2020s

2020 * Kathryn Hind for ''Hitch'' - £10,000 (Prize) * Stacey Halls for ''The Familiars'' - £5,400 * Isabella Hammad for ''The Parisian'' - £5,400 * Okeychukwu Nzelu for ''The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney'' - £5,400 2021 * Thomas McMullan for ''The Last Good Man'' (Prize) * Graeme Armstrong for ''The Young Team'' * Maame Blue for ''Bad Love'' * Nneoma Ike-Njoku for ''The Water House'' *

Kiran Millwood Hargrave Kiran Millwood Hargrave (born 29 March 1990) is a British poet, playwright and novelist. Life Hargrave was born on 29 March 1990 in London. She graduated from Cambridge University in 2011, and Oxford University in 2014. Career She started writ ...

for ''The Mercies'' * Eley Williams for ''The Liar’s Dictionary'' 2022 * Megan Nolan for ''Acts of Desperation'' (Jonathan Cape, Penguin Random House) * Natasha Brown for ''Assembly'' (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin General) * Will McPhail for ''IN: The Graphic Novel'' (Hodder & Stoughton, Sceptre) *

Caleb Azumah Nelson Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer. His 2021 debut novel, '' Open Water'', won the Costa Book Award for First Novel. Personal life Azumah Nelson grew up in and currently lives in southeast London ( Bellingham). ...

for ''Open Water'' (Penguin Random House, Viking) * A. K. Blakemore for ''The Manningtree Witches'' (Granta Books)

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Betty Trask Prizes and Awards: Past Winners
Commonwealth literary awards Society of Authors awards First book awards British fiction awards Awards established in 1984 Literary awards honouring young writers