The Staunch Book Prize is an award given to
thriller
Thriller may refer to:
* Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television
** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre
Comics
* ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
novels that avoid featuring violence to women. British writer and screenwriter Bridget Lawless founded the prize in 2018. Some writers object to the premise of the award, referring to it as a "
gag order
A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...
" and accusing it of censorship.
Background
Lawless established the prize in 2018 after she noticed the number of films that used rape as a plot device in the 2017
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
(BAFTA) award nominees, and was inspired by the
Time's Up and
Me Too movements, to encourage alternatives to violence-against-women
tropes
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
.
The official website describes the criteria as "a novel in the thriller genre in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered." The Staunch Book Prize is open to traditionally published, self-published and not-yet-published works and awards (funded by Lawless). The entry fee is .
The annual winner is announced on November 25, which is the
. The original novel prize was suspended for 2021 and was projected to return in 2022. In 2022, the Staunch Book Prize closed.
Controversy
Several writers criticized the Staunch Book Prize. Crime writer
Sarah Hilary equated the prize criteria with silencing the voices of
domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
victims, and called it "not a prize so much as a gagging order".
Domestic noir writer
Julia Crouch said "what that kind of prize immediately knocks out is the lived experience of millions of women in this country".
In ''
World Literature Today
''World Literature Today'' is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma. The stated goal of the magazine is to publish international essays, poetry, fiction, interviews, and book review ...
'', writer Janet Clark counters the criticism by saying "the prize is one way of drawing attention toward an undeniable trend of using horrific and perverse brutality as cheap plot devices. And it works: people talk about it." Hallie Rubenhold, writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', calls the prize "noble in sentiment", while acknowledging
Val McDermid
Valarie "Val" McDermid, (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir.
Biography
M ...
's argument that "acts of misogyny and violence against women are being committed, they need to be written about, and not swept under the carpet."
The first winner of the prize, Jock Serong, says the prize addresses "that laziness that creeps in, the tropes where women and girls are used unthinkingly as default victims in the story."
''Slate'' notes that the debate over the prize accomplishes the prize's purpose of drawing attention to the use of violence against women in fiction.
Winners
* 2018:
Jock Serong for ''On the Java Ridge''
* 2019:
Samantha Harvey for ''The Western Wind''
* 2020:
Attica Locke
Attica Locke (born 1974 in Houston, Texas) is an American fiction author and writer/producer for television and film.
Career
A 1995 graduate of Northwestern University School of Communication, Locke was a fellow at the Sundance Institute's Featu ...
for ''Heaven, My Home''
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{Cite web, date=2018-11-26, title=Award for thriller without violence against women goes to Jock Serong, url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/26/award-for-thriller-without-violence-against-women-goes-to-jock-serong-staunch-prize-on-the-java-ridge, access-date=2020-11-06, website=the Guardian, language=en]
[{{cite news, date=November 30, 2019, title=Samantha Harvey wins the 2019 Staunch Book Prize, newspaper=The Times of India, id={{ProQuest, 2243315223 ]
[{{cite web, url=http://staunchbookprize.com/about-2/ , title=About Staunch Book Prize , website= Staunch Book Prize]
[{{Cite news, date=2019-11-01, title=Staunch Book Prize: Should writers ditch female victims?, language=en-GB, work=BBC News, url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50260627, access-date=2020-11-06]
[{{Cite news, title=Want to win the Staunch Prize? Write a thriller where no woman is sexually exploited, raped or murdered , language=en-US, work=CBC, url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.4510444/want-to-win-the-staunch-prize-write-a-thriller-where-no-woman-is-sexually-exploited-raped-or-murdered-1.4510447, access-date=2020-11-06]
[{{cite journal, last=Clark, first=Janet, date=November 2018, title=The Staunch Book Prize, journal=World Literature Today, volume=92, issue=6, pages=10–12, doi=10.1353/wlt.2018.0078 , id={{ProQuest, 2212659427 ]
[{{Cite news, last=Flood, first=Alison, date=2018-01-26, title=Prize launched for thrillers that avoid sexual violence against women, language=en-GB, work=The Guardian, url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/26/staunch-prize-launched-for-thrillers-that-avoid-sexual-violence-against-women, access-date=2020-11-06, issn=0261-3077]
[{{Cite web, date=2019-07-05, title=Crime writers react with fury to claim their books hinder rape trials, url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/05/crime-writers-react-staunch-prize-claim-hinder-rape-trials, access-date=2020-11-06, website=The Guardian, last=Flood , first=Allison, language=en]
[{{cite news, last=Lau, first=Evelyn, date=February 2018, title=Staunch Book Prize: a reward for the best thriller that doesn't use women as victims, newspaper=The National (Abu Dhabi), id={{ProQuest, 1994364579 ]
[{{cite magazine, last=Lyons, first=Gila, date=July 2019, title=Prize for Thrillers Sparks Debate, magazine=Poets & Writers, volume=47, issue=4, page=16, id={{ProQuest, 2007407511 ]
[{{Cite web, last=Martinelli, first=Marissa, date=2019-07-05, title=Why an Award for Books Without Violence Against Women Is So Controversial, url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/07/staunch-prize-violence-against-women-controversy.html, access-date=2020-11-06, website=Slate Magazine, language=en]
[{{cite news, last=Rubenhold, first=Hallie, date=April 3, 2019, title=From Jack the Ripper to Ted Bundy, why are dead women's bodies still being used as entertainment?, page=6, newspaper=The Guardian, id={{ProQuest, 2202651755 ]
[{{cite web , last=Wood , first=Heloise , title=Staunch Prize shortlists for flash fiction and short stories revealed , website=The Bookseller , date=2021-11-01 , url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/staunch-prize-shortlists-flash-fiction-and-short-stories-revealed-1286148# , access-date=2022-01-31]
[{{cite magazine, last=Ziv, first=Stav, date=February 23, 2018, title=Thrillers Where Women Aren't Beaten, Stalked, Raped or Murdered Are Eligible for New Book Prize, magazine=Newsweek, volume=170, issue=8, id={{ProQuest, 2007407511 ]
Awards established in 2018