Scarrow and Scott up for first Wilbur Smith prize

Two titles from Headline have been shortlisted for the inaugural £10,000 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for novels that "best capture the spirit of adventure writing".

Britannia by Simon Scarrow (Headline) and The Revelation Code by Andy McDermott (Headline) are joined on the shortlist by Into the Fire by Manda Scott (Bantam), Eagles at War by Ben Kane (Arrow), The Tears of Dark Water by Corban Addison (Quercus), and Vanishing Games by Roger Hobbs (Corgi).

The judges for the prize will be singer and songwriter MNEK, adventurer and author Levison Wood, wildlife photographer Steve Winter, and Kevin Conroy Scott, creative director at Tibor Jones & Associates.

Niso Smith, founder of the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation said: “The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation was created to allow us to share our love of adventure writing with the world. Over the years, we have travelled together through Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and in every country and culture we have found storytellers weaving tales of adventure. The foundation’s aim is to introduce talent from across the globe to the reading world.

"The first stage of our mission will be to award an annual prize for adventure writing – the Wilbur Smith Adventure Award. The next stage will be to reach out to writers and readers across the world, bringing the spirit of adventure into their lives and inspiring them to undertake their own journeys of discovery. More than anything we want the Foundation to uplift, inspire and educate.”

The £10,000 first prize will be awarded at an awards ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in May.

The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to “empowering young writers from across the globe, championing the adventure writing genre and the promotion of literacy".