Betty Trask Prize and Awards
Annual literary award
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 nation. Each year the awards total at least £20,000, with normally one author receiving a larger prize amount (£10,000 in very recent years), called the "Prize", and the remainder given to other writers, called the "Awards".[1] These were established in 1984 by the Society of Authors at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels.[2] They're given to traditional or romantic novels, rather than those of an experimental style, and either published or unpublished works.[3]
List of award and prize winners
1980s
Betty Trask Prize and Award winners, 1984–1989
Year
|
Author
|
Title
|
Prize
|
1984
|
Ronald Frame
|
Winter Journey
|
£6,750
|
Clare Nonhebel
|
Cold Showers
|
£6,750
|
James Buchan
|
A Parish of Rich Women
|
£1,000
|
Helen Harris
|
Playing Fields in Winter
|
£1,000
|
Gareth Jones
|
The Disinherited
|
£1,000
|
Simon Rees
|
The Devil's Looking Glass
|
£1,000
|
1985
|
Susan Kay
|
Legacy
|
£12,500
|
Gary Armitage
|
A Season of Peace
|
£1,000
|
Elizabeth Ironside
|
A Very Private Enterprise
|
£1,000
|
Alice Mitchell
|
Instead of Eden
|
£1,000
|
George Schweiz
|
The Earth Abides For Ever
|
£1,000
|
Caroline Stickland
|
The Standing Hills
|
£1,000
|
1986
|
Tim Parks
|
Tongues of Flame
|
£9,000
|
Patricia Ferguson
|
Family, Myths and Legends
|
£4,500
|
Philippa Blake
|
Mzungu's Wife
|
£1,000
|
Matthew Kneale
|
Whore Banquets
|
£1,000
|
J. F. McLaughlin
|
The Road to Dilmun
|
£1,000
|
Kate Saunders
|
The Prodigal Father
|
£1,000
|
1987
|
James Maw
|
Hard Luck
|
£8,000
|
Peter Benson
|
The Levels
|
£4,500
|
Helen Flint
|
Return Journey
|
£4,500
|
Catherine Arnold
|
Lost Time
|
£1,000
|
H. S. Bhabra
|
Gestures
|
£1,000
|
Lucy Pinney
|
The Pink Stallion
|
£1,000
|
1988
|
Alex Martin
|
The General Interruptor MS
|
£6,500
|
Candia McWilliam
|
A Case of Knives
|
£6,500
|
Georgina Andrewes
|
Behind the Waterfall
|
£2,000
|
James Friel
|
Left of North
|
£2,000
|
Glenn Patterson
|
Burning Your Own
|
£2,000
|
Susan Webster
|
Small Tales of a Town
|
£2,000
|
1989
|
Nigel Watts
|
The Life Game
|
£10,000
|
William Riviere
|
Watercolour Sky
|
£5,000
|
Paul Houghton
|
Harry's Last Wedding
|
£2,000
|
Alasdair McKee
|
Uncle Henry's Last Stand
|
£2,000
|
1990s
Betty Trask Award winners, 1990–1999
Year
|
Author
|
Title
|
Prize
|
1990
|
Robert McLiam Wilson
|
Ripley Bogle
|
£16,000
|
Elizabeth Chadwick
|
The Wild Hunt
|
£3,000
|
Rosemary Cohen
|
No Strange Land
|
£3,000
|
Nicholas Shakespeare
|
The Vision of Elena Silves
|
£3,000
|
1991
|
Amit Chaudhuri
|
A Strange and Sublime Address
|
£10,000
|
Mark Swallow
|
Teaching Little Fang
|
£7,000
|
Suzannah Dunn
|
Quite Contrary
|
£2,000
|
Lesley Glaister
|
Honour Thy Father
|
£2,000
|
Simon Mason
|
The Great English Nude
|
£2,000
|
Nino Ricci
|
Lives of the Saints
|
£2,000
|
1992
|
Peter M. Rosenburg
|
Kissing Through a Pane of Glass
|
£5,000
|
Tibor Fischer
|
Under the Frog
|
£3,000
|
Liane Jones
|
The Dream Stone
|
£3,000
|
Eugene Mullan
|
The Last of His Line
|
£3,000
|
Edward St Aubyn
|
Never Mind
|
£3,000
|
1993
|
Mark Blackaby
|
You'll Never be Here Again
|
£10,000
|
Andrew Cowan
|
Pig
|
£7,000
|
Simon Corrigan
|
Tommy Was Here
|
£5,000
|
Joanna Briscoe
|
Mothers and Other Lovers
|
£2,000
|
Olivia Fane
|
Landing on Clouds
|
£2,000
|
1994
|
Colin Bateman
|
Divorcing Jack
|
£12,000
|
Nadeem Aslam
|
Season of the Rainbirds
|
£10,000
|
Guy Burt
|
After the Hole
|
£1,000
|
Frances Liardet
|
The Game
|
£1,000
|
Jonathan Rix
|
Some Hope
|
£1,000
|
1995
|
Robert Newman
|
Dependence Day
|
£10,000
|
Mark Behr
|
The Smell of Apples
|
£8,000
|
Martina Evans
|
Midnight Feast
|
£3,000
|
Rohit Manchanda
|
A Speck of Coaldust
|
£1,000
|
Juliet Thomas
|
Hallelujah Jordan
|
£1,000
|
Philippa Walshe
|
The Latecomer
|
£1,000
|
Madeleine Wickham
|
The Tennis Party
|
£1,000
|
1996
|
John Lanchester
|
The Debt to Pleasure
|
£8,000
|
Meera Syal
|
Anita and Me
|
£7,000
|
Rhidian Brook
|
The Testimony of Taliesin Jones
|
£5,000
|
Louis Caron Buss
|
The Luxury of Exile
|
£5,000
|
1997
|
Alex Garland
|
The Beach
|
£12,000
|
Josie Barnard
|
Poker Face
|
£5,000
|
Ardashir Vakil
|
Beach Boy
|
£5,000
|
Diran Adebayo
|
Some Kind of Black
|
£1,500
|
Sanjida O'Connell
|
Theory of Mind
|
£1,500
|
1998
|
Kiran Desai
|
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard
|
£10,000
|
Nick Earls
|
Zig Zag Street
|
£8,000
|
Phil Whitaker
|
Eclipse of the Sun
|
£5,000
|
Tobias Hill
|
Underground
|
£1,000
|
Gail Anderson-Dargatz
|
The Cure for Death by Lightning
|
£1,000
|
1999
|
Elliot Perlman
|
Three Dollars
|
£7,000
|
Catherine Chidgey
|
In a Fishbone Church
|
£6,000
|
Giles Foden
|
The Last King of Scotland
|
£4,000
|
Dennis Bock
|
Olympia
|
£3,000
|
Rajeev Balasubramanyam
|
In Beautiful Disguises
|
£2,500
|
Sarah Waters
|
Tipping the Velvet
|
£1,000
|
2000s
Since 2009, the Betty Trask Prize has been given to a single author; the remaining receive the Betty Trask Award. A blue ribbon () indicates the winner for that year.
Betty Trask Award winners, 2000–2009
Year
|
Author
|
Title
|
Prize
|
Ref.
|
2000
|
Jonathan Tulloch
|
The Season Ticket
|
£10,000
|
|
Julia Leigh
|
The Hunter
|
£7,000
|
|
Susan Elderkin
|
Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains
|
£4,000
|
|
Galaxy Craze
|
By the Shore
|
£2,000
|
|
Nicholas Griffin
|
The Requiem Shark
|
£2,000
|
|
2001
|
Zadie Smith
|
White Teeth
|
£8,000
|
|
Justin Hill
|
The Drink and Dream Teahouse
|
£5,000
|
|
Maggie O'Farrell
|
After You'd Gone
|
£5,000
|
|
Vivien Kelly
|
Take One Young Man
|
£4,000
|
|
Mohsin Hamid
|
Moth Smoke
|
£2,500
|
|
Patrick Neate
|
Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko
|
£2,500
|
|
2002
|
Hari Kunzru
|
The Impressionist
|
£8,000
|
[4]
|
Rachel Seiffert
|
The Dark Room
|
£5,000
|
|
Shamim Sarif
|
The World Unseen
|
£4,000
|
|
Helen Cross
|
My Summer of Love
|
£2,000
|
|
Chloe Hooper
|
A Child's Book of True Crime
|
£2,000
|
|
Susanna Jones
|
The Earthquake Bird
|
£2,000
|
|
Gwendoline Riley
|
Cold Water
|
£2,000
|
|
2003
|
Jon McGregor
|
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
|
£10,000
|
|
Sarah Hall
|
Haweswater
|
£6,000
|
|
Stephanie Merritt
|
Gaveston
|
£4,000
|
|
Elizabeth Garner
|
Nightdancing
|
£2,000
|
|
Zoë Strachan
|
Negative Space
|
£2,000
|
|
Adam Thirlwell
|
Politics
|
£1,000
|
|
2004
|
Louise Dean
|
Becoming Strangers
|
£8,000
|
|
Hannah MacDonald
|
The Sun Road
|
£6,000
|
|
Anthony Cartwright
|
The Afterglow
|
£3,000
|
|
Siddharth Dhanvant Sanghvi
|
The Last Song of Dusk
|
£3,000
|
|
2005
|
Susan Fletcher
|
Eve Green
|
£16,000
|
|
Diana Evans
|
26a
|
£2,000
|
|
Helen Walsh
|
Brass
|
£2,000
|
|
2006
|
Nick Laird
|
Utterly Monkey
|
£10,000
|
|
Peter Hobbs
|
The Short Day Dying
|
£5,000
|
|
Nicola Monaghan
|
The Killing Jar
|
£5,000
|
|
2007
|
Will Davis
|
My Side of the Story
|
£10,000
|
|
Adam Foulds
|
The Truth About These Strange Times
|
£2,500
|
|
Cynan Jones
|
The Long Dry
|
£2,500
|
|
Julie Maxwell
|
You Can Live Forever
|
£2,500
|
|
Karen Mcleod
|
In Search of the Missing Eyelash
|
£2,500
|
|
2008
|
David Szalay
|
London and the South
|
£10,000
|
|
Ross Raisin
|
God's Own Country
|
£6,000
|
|
Thomas Leveritt
|
The Exchange Rate Between Love and Money
|
£2,000
|
|
Anna Ralph
|
The Floating Island
|
£2,000
|
|
2009
|
Samantha Harvey
|
The Wilderness
|
£12,000
|
|
Eleanor Catton
|
The Rehearsal
|
£8,000
|
|
2010s
Betty Trask Award winners, 2010–2019
Year
|
Author
|
Title
|
Prize
|
Ref.
|
2010
|
Nadifa Mohamed
|
Black Mamba Boy
|
£10,000
|
|
Evie Wyld
|
After the Fire, A Still Small Voice
|
£7,000
|
|
Jenn Ashworth
|
A Kind of Intimacy
|
£1,500
|
|
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
|
I Do Not Come to You By Chance
|
£1,500
|
|
2011
|
Anjali Joseph
|
Saraswati Park
|
£10,000
|
[5]
|
Laura Barton
|
Twenty-One Locks
|
£6,000
|
|
Simon Lelic
|
Rupture
|
£2,500
|
|
Robert Williams
|
Luke and Jon
|
£2,500
|
|
2012
|
David Whitehouse
|
Bed
|
£8,000
|
|
Kalinda Ashton
|
The Danger Game
|
£3,000
|
|
Elizabeth Day
|
Scissors, Paper, Stone
|
£3,000
|
|
Annabel Pitcher
|
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
|
£3,000
|
|
Emma Jane Unsworth
|
Hungry the Stars and Everything
|
£3,000
|
|
2013
|
Grace McCleen
|
The Land of Decoration
|
£8,000
|
|
Chibundu Onuzo
|
The Spider King's Daughter
|
£7,000
|
|
Francesca Segal
|
The Innocents
|
£2,500
|
|
Will Wiles
|
Care of Wooden Floors
|
£2,500
|
|
2014
|
Nathan Filer
|
The Shock of the Fall
|
£10,000
|
[6]
|
NoViolet Bulawayo
|
We Need New Names
|
£3,750
|
|
Sam Byers
|
Idiopathy
|
£3,750
|
|
Mave Fellowes
|
Chaplin and Company
|
£3,750
|
|
Matt Greene
|
Ostrich
|
£3,750
|
|
2015
|
Ben Fergusson
|
The Spring of Kasper Meier
|
£10,000
|
[7]
|
Emma Healey
|
Elizabeth Is Missing
|
£5,000
|
|
Zoe Pilger
|
Eat My Heart Out
|
£5,000
|
|
Simon Wroe
|
Chop Chop
|
£5,000
|
|
2016
|
Alex Christofi
|
Glass
|
£10,000
|
[8]
|
Irenosen Okojie
|
Butterfly Fish
|
£5,000
|
|
Natasha Pulley
|
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
|
£5,000
|
|
Lucy Wood
|
Wood for Weathering
|
£5,000
|
|
2017
|
Daniel Shand
|
Fallow
|
£10,000
|
[8]
|
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
|
Harmless Like You
|
£3,000
|
|
Elnathan John
|
Born on a Tuesday
|
£3,000
|
|
Kathleen Jowitt
|
Speak Its Name
|
£3,000
|
|
Rob McCarthy
|
The Hollow Men
|
£3,000
|
|
Barney Norris
|
Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain
|
£3,000
|
|
2018
|
Omar Robert Hamilton
|
The City Always Wins
|
£10,000
|
|
Sarah Day
|
Mussolini's Island
|
£3,250
|
|
Clare Fisher
|
All the Good Things
|
£3,250
|
|
Eli Goldstone
|
Strange Heart Beating
|
£3,250
|
|
Lloyd Markham
|
Bad Ideas/Chemicals
|
£3,250
|
|
Masande Ntshanga
|
The Reactive
|
£3,250
|
|
2019
|
James Clarke
|
The Litten Path
|
£10,000
|
|
Samuel Fisher
|
The Chameleon
|
£2,700
|
|
Imogen Hermes Gowar
|
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
|
£2,700
|
|
Ruqaya Izzidien
|
The Watermelon Boys
|
£2,700
|
|
Daisy Lafarge
|
Paul
|
£2,700
|
|
Rebecca Ley
|
Sweet Fruit, Sour Land
|
£2,700
|
|
Sophie Mackintosh
|
The Water Cure
|
£2,700
|
|
2020s
References
External links
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