Call For Entries: Submissions are invited for the third Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.
Submissions are now open for the third Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. The award is open to historical novels first published in 2011 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, or, as a new extension of the rules, the Commonwealth. Worth £25,000 to the winner, the prize will be awarded at the 2012 Borders Book Festival between 14 and 17 June 2012. Publishers are asked to submit up to three titles per imprint by 31st January 2012.
The award is sponsored by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, and honours the achievements of Sir Walter Scott, the founding father of the historical novel. Launched in 2009, it is the first book award to recognise outstanding work in this burgeoning genre, and was won in its inaugural year by Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and in 2010 by Andrea Levy’s The Long Song.
For the purposes of the Prize, a historical novel means that the majority of the events described take place at least 60 years before the publication of the novel, and therefore stand outside any mature personal experience of the author. For this year’s prize the threshold is therefore 1941.
A shortlist of books will be drawn up in early 2012, and the winner will be announced and awarded in the Scottish Borders in June.
The rules and a submission form are available from: Rebecca Salt, the Walter Scott Prize, tel. 01620 829 800 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
