Book Awards & Writing Competitions - United Kingdom

ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award

An annual award for a short story, financed by a bequest made by Miss Nellie Tom-Gallon in memory of her brother and generously supported by ALCS and Hawthornden Literary Retreat. Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth, or the Republic of Ireland Applicants...

London, England   UK

Arthur C. Clarke Award

The Arthur C. Clarke Award is given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. The award was established with a grant given by Sir Arthur C. Clarke and the first prize was awarded in 1987 to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

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London, England   UK

Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction

The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction was set up to celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women throughout the world. Known from 1996 to 2012 as the Orange Prize for Fiction and in 2013 as the Women’s Prize for Fiction, it is the UK’s most prestigious annual...

London, England   UK

Bath Novel Award

£2,000 international prize for unpublished or independently published writers of novels for adults or young adults. Judge: Susan Armstrong of Conville & Walsh Literary Agency. £22 entry fee per novel. First 5,000 words plus one page synopsis. ...

Avon, England   UK

BBC Young Writers’ Award

Young people aged 14 to 18, who live in the UK, are invited to submit short stories of up to 1,000 words on any topic. The judges will be looking for high-quality writing, stories that demonstrate originality, imagination and creativity, and writers who can capture the reader and hold their attentio...

London,   UK

Betty Trask Prize & Awards

The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. The award was established in 1984 by the Society of Authors at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels. The awa...

London,   UK

Branford Boase Award

The BBA rewards the most promising new writers and their editors. The award is made annually to the most promising book by a first time novelist.

The author may have published other books in another genre - for example, poetry or a picture book - but eligibility for the prize requires that this is...

Hants ,   UK

Bridport Prize

The mission of the Bridport Prize is to encourage emerging writers and promote literary excellence through its competition structure. The Bridport Prize was founded by Bridport Arts Centre in 1973 and has steadily grown in stature and prestige.<p>The poem and short story categories each h...

Bridport,   UK

British Book Awards

The British Book Awards, or Nibbies, is the definitive event for honouring the commercial successes of publishers, authors and bookshops. It succeeds 2016’s British Book Industry Awards.<p>There have been many notable winners over the years. Faber was the first publisher of the year in 1990 ...

London,   UK

BSFA Awards

The BSFA Awards are presented annually by the British Science Fiction Association, based on a vote of BSFA members and – in recent years – members of the British national science fiction convention Eastercon. They are fan awards that not only seek to honour the most worthy examples in each categ...

Stoke on Trent, England   UK

Business Book Awards

The Business Book Awards, in partnership with Pathway Group and organised by ThinkFest Ltd, celebrates the best work of authors who have shared their industry or market knowledge, experience and expertise in published book form. The awards reflect the changing face of the publishing industry, so are...

London, England   UK

Carnegie Medal

The Yoto Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children. The book must have received its first publication in the United Kingdom or have had co-publication elsewhere within a three month time lapse. In the case of e-books and short stories or poetry previously p...

London,   UK

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. Applicants must be under the age of 30 on the 31 October of the application year Applications must be a British National, or resident...

London, England   UK

Exeter Story Prize

The Exeter Story Prize is for a story of up to ten thousand words. There is no minimum word count. Authors must be over 18 years old, and stories should not have been previously published in print, on the internet or broadcast..

Stories may be on any theme but only humorous stories will be elig...

Exeter, England   UK

Exeter Writers Short Story Competition

The competition is open to published and unpublished authors living anywhere in the world and writing in English. Stories must not have been previously published, nor have won a prize in any other competition. They can be in any genre except for children’s and should be no longer than 3,000 w...

Devon,   UK

Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize

A prize 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. Inspired by Malcolm Lowry’s novel, Under the Volcano and in celebration of its author, the prize aims to inspire literary excellence and...

London, England   UK

HWA Crown Awards

The Crown Awards celebrate the best historical writing of the year, fiction and non-fiction! Three awards are offered: the Gold Crown for the best work of historical fiction published in the UK during the judging period, the HWA Non-Fiction Crown for the best non-fiction work first published in the ...

Norwich, England   UK

Ink of Ages Fiction Prize

The Ink of Ages Fiction Prize is an international short story contest organized by World History Encyclopedia and sponsored by Oxford University Press. If you write historical or mythology-inspired short fiction, you can enter your story. The contest is free to enter and accepts submissions in ...

Oxford, England   UK

International Prize for Arabic Fiction

The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) is an annual literary prize run with the support of the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by the TCA Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The Prize was launched in Abu Dhabi in April 2007 with the intention to address the limited international avail...

London,   UK

Isle of Wight Book Awards

The object of the Awards is to encourage the writing, reading and publishing of books about the Isle of Wight; to draw attention to the beauty and glories and heritage of the Isle of Wight; to reward and praise authors, many of whom will perhaps never have produced a book before. Certificates are aw...

Cowes, IOW, England   UK

John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

This award is for the best crime novel by a first-time author of any nationality with their first novel of any kind first published in the UK in English during the Judging Period. ‘Best crime novel by a first-time author’ means that the author must not have had a novel of any sort published anyw...

Norwich, England   UK

Mairtin Crawford Award

The Mairtín Crawford Awards are aimed at writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award, and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award, w...

Belfast, Northern Ireland   UK

Margery Allingham Short Story Competition

The CWA Margery Allingham Short Story competition was set up in 2013 to celebrate the short story and Margery Allingham's contribution to crime writing. Supported by the Margery Allingham Society we are delighted that this competition will run annually.<p> The competition is open to all...

Norwich,   UK

Marlowe and Christie Novel Prize

Submit the opening 3000 words of your novel. Conventionally published novelists are not eligible to enter. We are looking for the opening of your novel. Send us up to 3000 words. You need not have written more. Entries which are longer or not the opening of your novel will be disqualified. ​ ...

Cambridge, England   UK

McKitterick Prize

Tom McKitterick, the former editor of Political Quarterly and author of an unpublished novel, endowed the McKitterick Prize which was first awarded in 1990. It is also generously supported by Hawthornden Literary Retreat. It is given annually to an author over the age of 40 for a first novel, publis...

London, England   UK

Page Turner Awards

Awards are offered in five categories: Writing Award : for unpublished, completed manuscripts Young Writer Award : for writers aged between 18 and 25 Writing Mentorship Award : for uncompleted manuscripts Screenplay Award : for scriptwriters with a completed screenplay Book Award : for aut...

Speen, England   UK

Parlilamentary Book Awards

The Parliamentary Book Awards are the only book awards curated by bookshops and voted on by parliamentarians. Launched by the Booksellers Association and the Publishers Association in 2016, the awards aim to celebrate the best of political writing and the long-standing link between politics, books, ...

London, England   UK

Paul Torday Memorial Prize

Paul Torday published his first novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen aged 60. The family have decided to set up this new prize in Torday’s honour, celebrating first novels by authors aged 60 or over. The novel must have been first published in the UK and Republic of Ireland The novel must be a...

London, England   UK

Petrona Award

The Petrona Award has been established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke, one of the first online crime fiction reviewers and bloggers, who died in December 2012. Maxine, whose online persona and blog was called Petrona, was passionate about translated crime fiction but in particular that from ...

Redditch , Worcestershire   UK

Portico Sadie Massey Awards for Young Readers and Writers

Competition 1: Write a short story set in the North of England Write a story set in the North of England: based in your home, community, or somewhere further afield. Where is meaningful to you? Competition 2: Book Review Choose any type of book you want, one you are reading for pleasure or ...

Manchester, England   UK

Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize

Each year the Royal Society celebrates the best books that communicate science to young people through our Young People’s Book Prize.<p> The Prize aims to inspire young people to read about science and promotes the writing of excellent, accessible books for under-14s.<p>Each shortlis...

London, England   UK

Searchlight Awards - Best Children's Picture Book Text

Entries are invited for our children’s picture book competition (text only), up to 500 words. Entrants must be 16 years and over. Stories must be previously unpublished. However, self-published picture books are eligible....

Bath, England   UK

Searchlight Awards - Best Novel Opening for Children or Young Adults

Searchlight Writing for Children Awards’ aim is to open doors for aspiring authors. The twenty shortlistees from the last two competitions received an incredible twenty one full manuscript or additional picture book requests from agents and publishers. Entries are invited for the opening 1,200 wo...

Bath, England   UK

Somerset Maugham Award

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 author must be a British national, or resident in Great Britain and Northern Irelan...

London, England   UK

Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year

Run in Association with The Authors' Club, the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year is the centrepiece of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. <p> The prize, which is judged by a panel of travel writers, celebrates excellence in literary travel writing and is open to author...

London,   UK

The Queen's Knickers Award

This annual prize, generously funded by Nicholas Allan, author of The Queen’s Knickers, is awarded to an outstanding children’s original illustrated book for ages 0-7. It will recognise books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether this be in the form of curio...

London, England   UK

UKLA Book Award

The UKLA Book Awards seek to celebrate children’s books in order to encourage teachers to increase their professional and personal knowledge of recently published high quality children’s books and promote the place of books for young people in all educational settings from nursery to key stag...

Leicester ,   UK

V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize

This prize for the best unpublished short story of the year was founded by the RSL at the beginning of the new millennium to commemorate the centenary of an author widely regarded as the finest English short-story writer of the 20th century, and to preserve a tradition encompassing Pritchet's ...

London,   UK

Welsh Poetry Competition

The International Welsh Poetry Competition is an annual English language poetry award and the largest of its kind in Wales. The contest was founded in 2007 by Welsh poet and photographer Dave Lewis. ...

Pontypridd, Wales   UK

YA Book Prize

The YA Book Prize launched in 2014 to celebrate great books for teenagers and young adults and aims to get more teens reading and buying books. It is the first prize in the UK and Ireland to specifically focus on fiction for young adults. The prize is organised by book trade magazine The Bookse...

London, England   UK