The Commonwealth Writer’s
Prize
The Commonwealth Writers'
Prize, organised and funded by the Commonwealth
Foundation, is a leading award for fiction that was first awarded in 1987.
The Commonwealth Foundation is an
intergovernmental organisation working in
the 53 countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The aim of the Prize is to encourage new Commonwealth
fiction, and to ensure that works of merit reach a
wider audience outside their country of origin.
The
Commonwealth Writers' Prize is sponsored and administered
by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Foundation in the Europe and South
Asia and South East Asia and South Pacific regions.
The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental
body working to help civil society organisations promote
democracy, development and cultural understanding
in Commonwealth countries.
The
Commonwealth Writers' Prize is established as a noted
annual event in both the media and literary calendar.
Last year, the CWP achieved a high level of exposure
in both regional and international media. Over the
past years media coverage has also increased bringing
more attention towards the prize.
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is chaired by Justice Nicholas
Hasluck, distinguished Australian author and
leading judicial officer. Justice Hasluck has published
ten works of fiction, including the award-winning The Bellarmine Jug and The Country Without
Music.
Selection
Process
The
Commonwealth Writers' Prize covers the Commonwealth
regions of Africa, Europe and South Asia, The Caribbean
and Canada, and South East Asia and the South Pacific.
Entries are first assessed by four
regional panels of judges and the selection
of the overall winner is made by a distinguished pan-Commonwealth
panel. In each of the four regions of the Commonwealth two prizes of £1,000 are
awarded: one for the Best Book and one for the Best
First Book. The resulting eight
regional winners' books are then judged by
the pan-Commonwealth panel. Authors win £10,000
for the overall Best Book and £5,000
for the Best First Book. Writers and judges
come together in a final literary programme in a different
Commonwealth country each year.
The 2007 Regional Winners
The
eight regional winners for the 2007 Prize were announced
in March 2007. The eight regional winners are;
Africa
Best
Book: - The Native Commissioner, by Shaun
Johnson (South Africa), Penguin Books
Best
First Book: - All We Have Left Unsaid,
by Maxine Case (South Africa), Kwela Books
Canada
and the Caribbean
Best
Book: - The Friends of Meager Fortune,
by David Adams Richards (Canada), Doubleday Canada
Best
First Book: - Vandal Love, by D. Y. Béchard
(Canada), Doubleday
Europe
and South Asia
Best
Book: - The Perfect Man, by Naeem Murr
(UK), Heinemann
Best
First Book: - In the Country of Men, by
Hisham Matar (UK), Viking
South
East Asia and South Pacific
Best
Book: - Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones (New
Zealand), Penguin
Best
First Book: -Tuvalu by Andrew O'Connor
(Australia), Allen and Unwin
Over
All Winners 2007
Best
Book: Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)
Best
First Book: Vandal Love by D.Y. Béchard
(Canada)
