Welcome

The Prize for New Fiction

Launched in 2007, The Desmond Elliott Prize has quickly become established as the premier prize for new fiction. Media coverage for the 2011 Prize reached beyond the United Kingdom to an international audience in Europe, the United States and Australia.

A panel of three judges for the Prize are asked to look for a novel of depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The work should be vividly written and confidently realised and should contain original and arresting characters. Books from all fiction genres are considered.

Worth £10,000 to the winner, the Prize is intended to support new writers and to celebrate their fiction. It was created in memory of the charismatic publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliott, who died in August 2003. He stipulated that his estate should be invested in a charitable trust that would fund a literary award “to enrich the careers of new writers”.

Dallas Manderson, Chairman of the Desmond Elliot Charitable Trust comments:
“ We are delighted that the reputation of the prize continues to grow and that we have been able to encourage and sustain such outstanding first novelists.”