Hawthornden Prize
| Hawthornden Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | "imaginative literature" (poetry or prose) by British, Irish or British-based authors |
| First award | 1919 |
| Website | www |
The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award given annually to a British, Irish or British-based author for a work of "imaginative literature" – including poetry, novels, history, biography and creative non-fiction – published in the previous calendar year.
The prize is for a book in English, not for a translation. Previous winners of the prize are excluded from the shortlist. Unlike other major literary awards, the Hawthornden Prize does not solicit submissions. There have been several gap years without a recipient (1945–57, 1959, 1966, 1971–73, and 1984–87).
The Hawthornden Prize was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender. It, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, are Britain's oldest literary awards.
The award offered £100 in 1936. It had increased to £2,000 by 1995, and by 2017 it was worth £15,000. It was formerly administered by the Hawthornden Trust set up by Warrender, and sponsored by the private trust of Drue Heinz. It is currently administered by Hawthornden Foundation, established by Drue Heinz.