Faulks and de Waal judge Young Writer of the Year Award

Sebastian Faulks, Kit de Waal and Tessa Hadley are among the judges for this year's Sunday Times and University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award.

The writers will be joined on the judging panel by critic and Review 31 founding editor Houman Barekat and Sunday Times literary editor Andrew Holgate.

Submissions, which are open to British and Irish writers aged 35 or under, opened for digital-only entries last month and are still being accepted until 22nd June. The shortlist will be announced on 1st November, with the winner revealed on 10th December.

Faulks said: “I’m interested to see if young writers can stand outside their personal experience and the concerns of the present day. What I’m hoping for in the submissions for the Young Writer of the Year Award are style, attention to words, the sense that even if it reads smoothly it has been ferociously worked at.”

Last year's prize was scooped by Raymond Antrobus while recent winners have included Adam Weymouth, Sally Rooney, Max Porter and Sarah Howe.

Alongside £5,000 in prize money, the winner package includes a bespoke 10-week residency at the University of Warwick and a year’s membership of The London Library, which will also be offered to all shortlisted writers.

De Waal said: “I’m interested in what people will do about the low level hum of panic and how that will effect their writing. I’m hoping that we won’t see a rash of virus or pandemic stories. It’s too soon for that by about 10 years. I am hoping to see something from the gut, something visceral and yearning. I’m always looking for a voice that brings me up short in any writer, young or old.”