Mason wins £10k Dundee International Book Prize

Amy Mason has won £10,000 and a publishing deal by winning the Dundee International Book Prize.

Mason's debut novel, The Other Ida, beat off competition from 400 other entries, and will now be published by Cargo Press.

The prize has been running since 2000, organised by the city of Dundee and the University of Dundee. It is given out every year at the Dundee Literary Festival.

The Other Ida follows a woman named after her alcoholic mother's most famous play, who has to return home as her mother's illness worsens.

Broadcaster Kirsty Lang, novelist Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins publisher Scott Pack, agent Felicity Blunt and critic Stuart Kelly were the judges of this year's award.

Mason, based in Oxford, is a writer and performer who dropped out of school at 16 and began writing through an evening class she started when she was 25. She said: "Winning the prize is obviously completely brilliant. I entered on a whim, and cried every time I got to another stage in the competition. To get the novel published, and enough money to keep me writing for a year, is amazing."