Following our Prizes consultation and approval from the Charity Commission, we are delighted to announce that the changes proposed to the eligibility criteria for three of our annual Authors’ Awards have now been approved.
From September to November 2016 we ran a public consultation on prize eligibility with the goal of making our awards more inclusive (specifically, the Somerset Maugham Awards, the Eric Gregory Awards and the Betty Trask Prize & Awards). We aim to reward as many authors as possible for their contributions to our literary culture.
Previously, the awards restricted applicants based on their nationality. For the Somerset Maugham and Eric Gregory Funds the qualification was to be a British subject by birth and for the Betty Trask Foundation the qualification was to be a Commonwealth citizen.
These criteria, established in the years 1946-1984, have become outdated and do not represent the UK’s cultural landscape. Under the new terms of the prizes, applicants must either be a British national or be resident in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (in the case of the Betty Trask Foundation, the Commonwealth) for three years prior to the date of submission for the award.
We would like to thank all who submitted feedback on the proposed changes, and we look forward to welcoming applications for the 2018 Authors’ Awards.