New writing award for authors aged 60+ to prove it’s ‘Never Too Late’

A new writing award for authors aged 60+ has launched, and is backed by My Name is Leon (Penguin) author Kit de Waal and agency AM Heath. The Bridport Prize international writing competition’s new Never Too Late Award aims to “unlock the hidden talent of older writers”.

The £500 award is for writers aged 60+ across poetry, short story, novel or flash fiction, and the deadline 31st May 2025. 

De Waal said: “What a privilege to be associated with this award! My first novel was published when I was 56, something I never imagined possible. There again, at 56 I was just getting my second wind (or possibly my third) and even now at 64 I consider myself mid-career with a lot more to do and say. Thanks to the Bridport Prize and the Never Too Late Award, we can recognise the unique voice and hard work of older writers who are just getting started. Hoorah for us!”

Twice winner of the Bridport Prize, Kit returned as a judge, sponsored bursary places and today leads the under-represented writers residency. 

The Bridport Prize has helped fund Bridport Arts Centre and previous winners include novelists Kate Atkinson MBE, Kit de Waal and Fiona Williams. 

Atkinson said: “I have enormously fond memories of the Bridport Prize. It gave me one of the first affirmations that I could write. The story I wrote for the competition was the first time I felt I found that elusive thing – my ‘voice’. Without the Bridport Prize I would probably not have found my agent and quite possibly wouldn’t have written Behind the Scenes at the Museum, so I have a lot to be thankful to it for.”

For more information visit the Bridport Prize website.