Folio Prize to retain £36k prize pot as it transitions to 'Writers Prize' for 2024

The Rathbones Folio Prize has officially relaunched as The Writers’ Prize in its 10th year, and confirmed it will retain the same prize pot of £36,000 through private donations and a revamped judging process.

A seven-year partnership with Rathbones Investment Management came to an end in 2023, but organisers said that “thanks to the generosity of a number of private individuals, book industry-related businesses and trusts and members of the Folio Academy” the prize will go ahead with the same prize pot of £36,000.

This fund includes £30,000 for the overall Book of the Year and £2,000 for category winners in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry.

In a new development, the prize will be run without judges this year, and instead the 350+ membership of the Folio Academy will determine the shortlists and the winners.

The prize announced a new format in August, featuring three separate shortlists, to address the changing landscape of literary prizes, spotlight more authors and offer readers and retailers a clearer, broader range of recommendations.  

Organisers have issued a call for nominations and three shortlists of three titles each will be announced on 9th January, with overall winners announced in March 2024. Academy members will then be able to read the shortlisted titles, thanks to a partnership with NetGalley, before casting their final votes for category winners and overall Writers’ Prize Book of the Year.

The Writers’ Prize is the flagship of the Literature Prize Foundation (a.k.a. the Folio Academy Foundation), which also runs the Folio Academy Mentorships for aspiring young writers.

Awarded for literary excellence, it is the only international, English-language award nominated and judged purely by other writers. It is open to all works of literature, regardless of form, published in the English language in the UK in 2023. 

For further details, contact Minna.Fry@thewritersprize.com.