Gaunt wins TLC Pen Factor Prize with gothic horror novel

Johnny Gaunt has won the TLC Pen Factor Prize for his "visceral" Yorkshire-set gothic horror novel Offcumden.

Run by The Literary Consultancy (TLC) the prize awards a package worth more than £2,000, including professional editorial feedback from TLC, and development opportunities with prize partners Spread the Word, the Royal Society of Literature, Arvon, and Writing Magazine, to an emerging writer. 

This year’s award marks the 10th anniversary of the prize. The announcement was made at a live pitch event, as part of the Being a Writer Festival. Gaunt said: "It was a fantastic evening. The other writers had such important and emotional works, I felt sure my northern horror novel would be left trailing. I’m so happy to have been wrong! It’s very exciting to have agent interest at such an early stage, but what I really must do now is keep writing — and it’s good to know TLC will be there to support me.”

Five shortlisted writers were invited to make a live pitch to a panel of judges featuring agent Rachel Yeoh from The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency, Jamie Cowen from The Ampersand Agency, and Anna Power from Johnson & Alcock, before Gaunt was chosen as the winner. 

Offcumden is set on a Yorkshire council estate.The judges described his manuscript as "like reading a finished book" and "visceral". 

TLC head of writing services Joe Sedgwick said: “At TLC, writer development is at the heart of what we do, and the TLC Pen Factor Prize is a way of offering unpublished writers support and recognition for their work. We hope this year’s prize will make a real difference to the winner, Johnny Gaunt, and we wish him every success on his journey to, hopefully, seeing his novel Offcumden in print.”

The annual award was started in 2012 to spotlight new talent. Previous winners and finalists include Neema Shah, Guinevere Glasfurd, Adam Sharp, Abi Dare, Fawzia Kane and Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, who subsequently landed a two-book deal with Viking.