7 March 2012
Record entry for Dundee International Book Prize
The 2012 Dundee International Book Prize has received a record-breaking 475 entries - up almost 400 per cent on last year's figure.
The aspiring novelists will compete to earn a publishing deal with Cargo Publishing and £10,000 - the largest cash prize for unpublished work in the UK - in the annual competition organised by the University of Dundee's Literary Dundee initiative, and the One City, Many Discoveries campaign.
A star-studded panel of judges - comprising writer, actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry, novelists Philip Pullman and Alan Bissett, and top literary agent Jenny Brown - will decide the winner from the hundreds of entries from around the world.
Literary Dundee Director Anna Day said the calibre of judges for this year's event was a major factor in attracting an "amazing" degree of interest, and thanked Stephen Fry, a former Rector of Dundee University, for flagging up the prize to his four million Twitter followers.
"The growing stature of the Dundee International Prize has obviously played a part but the panel of judges we have this year has really helped the number of entries rocket," she said.
"Their connections and global reach has helped us reach new markets, and I send my sincere gratitude to Stephen Fry for re-tweeting our call for entries as we certainly saw an upsurge as a result.
"We have always had an international reach when it comes to entries, but this year that's more the case than ever. There have been stories sent from Australia, New Zealand, all over America, and from Africa.
"From a preliminary look through the submissions, we can see already that the quality of writing is very high, and our team of readers will now go through them in detail. Each book will be read by two members of the team who will each score the piece out of 50 based on strict criteria.
"The highest-scoring entries will then go through to the next stage, where the judges will decide on a shortlist and, ultimately, a winner."
Will Dawson, convener of Dundee City Council's city development committee said: "I am delighted that the Dundee International Book Prize continues to go from strength to strength. Not only in the quantity of entries but also in the calibre of judges we have been able to attract.
"The wealth of talent out there and the sheer number of entries makes the judging task this year even more difficult than usual."
The prize is now in its eighth year. The 2011 winner was Simon Ashe-Browne's 'Nothing Human Left', a psychological thriller set in a Dublin public school.
The winner of the 2012 Dundee International Book prize will be informed of their success in June, and the book will be published in the autumn as part of the Dundee Literary Festival.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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