The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a

literary prize A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Man ...

awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or drama) by an author from the

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 ...

aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

.John Llewellyn Rhys Prize "John Llewellyn Rhys Prize"
. Booktrust. Retrieved 29 January 2011. Established in 1942, it was one of the oldest literary awards in the UK. Since 2011, the award has been suspended by funding problems. The last award was in 2010.Alison Flood
"John Llewellyn Rhys prize 'suspended'"
, ''The Guardian'', 29 June 2011

History

The prize was initiated in 1942 by Jane Oliver in memory of her husband, John Llewellyn Rhys, a young author who was killed on 5 August 1940 while serving as a

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. From 1987 to 2003, the prize was funded by ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

''. The newspaper withdrew in 2003, after the initial winner of 2002 prize,

Hari Kunzru Hari Mohan Nath Kunzru (born 1969) is a British novelist and journalist. He is the author of the novels '' The Impressionist'', '' Transmission'', ''My Revolutions'', '' Gods Without Men'', ''White Tears'',David Robinson"Interview: Hari Kunzru, ...

, rejected the prize and criticised the Mail of Sunday for "hostility towards black and Asian people" Subsequently, the prize was sponsored by BookTrust, an independent educational charity, but in June 2011 the award was suspended due to funding problems. Booktrust said that it "strongly" intended to bring the award "back with a bang as soon as possible" as it looked for outside funding sources. In 2010, the winner received £5,000, while the runners-up each received £500.

Winners (1942–1999)

Winners and shortlists (since 2000)

Notes

References

External links