The Encore Award

For the best second novel

The Encore Award was first presented in 1990 to celebrate the best second novel of the year.

A prize of £15,000 will be awarded to the author of the work that the judges consider to be the best second novel of the year. The four other shortlisted authors will also receive £1,000 each.

The Encore Award is now open for submissions.
Please enter using the form below.

The Encore Award celebrates the best second novel of the year.

A prize of £15,000 will be awarded to the author of the work that the judges consider to be the best second novel of the year. The four other shortlisted authors will also receive £1,000 each.

Deadline for submissions: Sunday 30 November 2025

Eligibility criteria:

  • The award is open to any second published full-length work of fiction written in English by a living author.
  • The writer must have been resident in the United Kingdom (UK) or the Republic of Ireland (RoI) for the past three years. UK or Irish citizens living overseas are not eligible.
  • All entries must be published for the first time in the UK or RoI within the calendar year e.g. January-December 2025.
  • Novellas, graphic novels, children’s books and self-published works are ineligible

How to enter

The Encore Award is administered by the Society of Authors (SoA). Current employees or members of the SoA Management Committee may not apply for any grant or prize administered by the Society of Authors.

For each entry, please send four physical copies of the book to:

The Encore Award
Prizes Department
24 Bedford Row
Holborn
London
WC1R 4EH

Please note any couriers should use the entrance on Theobalds Road.

If a book reaches the shortlist, the prize will request a further 25 copies for promotional purposes.

Judges may call in books if they so wish. The decision of the judges is final.

Please also upload a digital version of the book when prompted below. If the file you are using is too large for the form, please complete the rest of the entry form and then send the file via email or WeTransfer to prizes@societyofauthors.org.

All entries must be published for the first time in the UK or Republic of Ireland within the calendar year e.g. January-December 2025.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Please upload a digital version of the book in addition to physical copies sent in to The Society of Authors. If the file you are using is too large for the form, please complete the rest of the entry form and then send the file via email or WeTransfer to prizes@societyofauthors.org.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
If the file you are using is too large for the form, please complete the rest of the entry form and then send the file via email or WeTransfer to prizes@societyofauthors.org.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Please include any photographer credit in the file name.
Please write a short bio (Max 100 words). This may typically include recent publications, the name, date, and details of previous prizes won, education, training, and career background, and pronouns.

Confirmations

I agree to abide by the terms and conditions of entry and confirm that the submitted work and the author meet the entry criteria.
By ticking the above you are confirming that you have permission to share all the above information with the Society of Authors and The Encore Award team. We may invite you to take part in PR activities surrounding the prize but you are under no obligation to do so and will always contact you to ask your permission before giving your contact details to our media partners. To read our full privacy policy please visit our website: societyofauthors.org/Legal-Privacy/Privacy-Statement.

The 2025 Encore Award Winner

Manya Wilkinson for Lublin published by And Other Stories

Photography © Christopher James Owens

2024:

Isabella Hammad for Enter Ghost (Random House)

2023:

Daisy Hildyard for Emergency (Fitzcarraldo Editions)

2022:

Francis Spufford for Light Perpetual (Scribner)

2021:

Caolinn Hughes for The Wild Laughter (Oneworld Publications)

2020:

Patrick McGuinness for Throw Me to the Wolves (Vintage)

2019:

Sally Rooney for Normal People (Faber & Faber)

2018:

Andrew Michael Hurley for Devil’s Day (Hachette)

Lisa McInerney for The Blood Miracles (John Murray, Hachette)

2017:

Ian McGuire for The North Water (Simon & Schuster/Scribner)

2015:

Sunjeev Sahota for The Year of the Runaways (Picador)

2014:

Neel Mukherjee for The Lives of Others (Chatto & Windus)

2013:

Evie Wyld for All the Birds, Singing (Jonathan Cape, Vintage)

2012:

Ned Beuman for The Teleportation Accident (Hodder & Stoughton)

2011:

Joe Dunthorne for Wild Abandon (Penguin)

2010:

Adam Foulds for The Quickening Maze (Jonathan Cape, Vintage)

2009:

Julia Leigh for Disquiet (Penguin)

2007:

M.J. Hyland for Carry Me Down (Canongate)

2005:

Nadeem Aslam for Maps for Lost Lovers (Faber & Faber)

2004:

Michelle de Kretser for The Hamilton Case (Knopf)

2003:

Jeremy Gavron for The Book of Israel (Scribner)

2002:

Ali Smith for Hotel World (Hamish Hamilton)

2001:

Anne Enright for What Are You Like? (Vintage)

2000:

John Burnside for The Mercy Boys (Vintage)

Claire Messud for The Last Life (Mariner, HarperCollins)

Matt Thorne for Eight Minute Idle (Hodder & Staughton)

1999:

Phil Whitaker for Triangulation (Picador)

1998:

Christina Koning for Undiscovered Country (Penguin)

Alan Warner for These Demented Lands (Anchor)

1997:

Timothy O’Grady for I Could Read the Sky (Harvill)

1996:

David Flusfeder for Like Plastic (Vintage)

1995:

A.L. Kennedy for So I Am Glad (Vintage)

1994:

Dermot Healy for A Goat’s Song (Faber & Faber)

1993:

Amit Chaudhuri for Afternoon Raag (Vintage)

1992:

Colm Tóibín for The Heather Blazing (Picador)

1991:

Ian Sinclair for Downriver (Penguin)

1990:

Carey Harrison for Richard’s Feet (Heinemann)

Paul Watkins for Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn (Houghton Mifflin)

Peter Benson for A Lesser Dependency (Macmillan)

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