Primadonna Prize opens with book contract for winner

The Primadonna Prize for unsigned and un-agented authors will, for the first time, offer the winner a book contract with HQ with an advance of £7,500 for world English rights.

The winner of the competition, which opens for entries on 9th January, will also work with Alice Lutyens from Curtis Brown to develop their shortlisted piece into a publishable book. There is a cash prize of £100 for the runner-up, as well as a mentoring session with a member of the Primadonna team, which includes authors Kit de Waal and Catherine Mayer, agents Elise Dillsworth and Cathryn Summerhayes, and publisher Lisa Milton.

Milton said of the prize launch: “We’re incredibly proud to offer one brilliant writer the chance to go from unsigned to published through our fiction prize. It’s really exciting for us to enable raw talent to come through in this way: it’s what Primadonna is all about.”

This year’s judging panel comprises Milton and Lutyens, alongside author Andi Osho, associate director of Ed Public Relations Shona Abhyankar, founder and chief executive of New Writing North Claire Malcolm MBE and writer Elissa Soave, who won the inaugural Primadonna Prize in 2019 and whose debut novel Ginger and Me was published by HQ in July 2022.

Osho said: “It’s so important to create better access to the industry, and this is a fantastic way to get those unheard voices out there.”

Entrants are asked to submit 500 words on the theme of this year’s competition: "renewal". All submissions will be read anonymously and judged without regard to grammar or spelling, a first for a literary prize.

Lutyens said: “I could not be more excited about joining the exemplary team for the annual Primadonna Prize. I’ve seen first hand how valuable prizes are for aspiring authors to achieve recognition and exposure, and this one is particularly special as the first to disregard grammar and spelling – a challenge for most agents!"

Milton added: “We’re so proud to have launched the careers of a number of brilliant new authors through our prize and through talent-spotting at the Primadonna festival. The standard is always incredibly high for prize entries and I can’t wait to read the final five shortlisted pieces. And to anyone feeling unsure about whether they’re good enough to put themselves forward: you are. We want to read your work – just go for it.”

The Primadonna Prize comes from the team behind the Primadonna books festival, which will take place from 28th to 30th July 2023 at the Food Museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk.