The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 who reside in a current or former

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

nation. Each year the awards total at least , with normally one author receiving a larger prize amount ( in very recent years), called the "Prize", and the remainder given to the other nominees, called the "Awards". These were established in 1984 by the

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyon ...

at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels. They're given to traditional or romantic novels, rather than those of an

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

style, and either published or unpublished works.

List of award and prize winners

1980s

1990s

2000s

Since 2009, the Betty Trask Prize has been given to a single author; the remaining receive the Betty Trask Award. A blue ribbon () indicates the winner for that year.

2010s

2020s

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Betty Trask Prizes and Awards: Past Winners
Commonwealth literary awards Society of Authors awards First book awards British fiction awards Awards established in 1984 Literary awards honouring young writers