The Betty Trask Prize and Awards

Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned.

The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are awarded to a writer under the age of 35 for a first novel.

Betty Trask left a bequest to the Society of Authors in 1983 to fund the prize. The winners must be ‘of a romantic or traditional nature, i.e. not experimental’.

The prize is £20,000 (shared) and must be used for travel. It is open to published and unpublished novels.

2010

Betty Trask Prize: Black Mamba Boy Nadifa Mohamed

Betty Trask Awards:

• After the fire, a still small voice Evie Wyld
• A kind of intimacy Jenn Ashworth
• I do not come to you by chance Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

2009

Betty Trask Prize: The Wilderness Samantha Harvey

Betty Trask Award: The Rehearsal Eleanor Catton

2008

London and the South-East Winner

David Szalay (Cape)

God’s Own Country

Ross Raisin (Viking)

The Exchange Rate Between Love and Money

Thomas Leveritt (Harvill Secker)

The Floating Island

Anna Ralph (Hutchinson)

2007

• My Side of the story Will Davis (Bloomsbury) Winner
• The Truth about these strange times Adam Foulds (Weidenfeld)
• The Long Dry Cynan Jones (Parthian)
• You can live forever Julie Maxwell (Cape)
• In search of the missing eyelash Karen Mcleod (Cape)

2006

• Utterly Monkey Nick Laird Winner
• The Short Day Dying Peter Hobbs
• The Killing Jar Nicola Monaghan

2005

• Eve Green Susan Fletcher Winner
• 26a Diana Evans
• Brass Helen Walsh

2004

• Becoming Strangers Louise Dean Winner
• The Sun Road Hannah MacDonald
• The Afterglow Anthony Cartwright
• The Last Song of Dusk Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

2003

• If nobody speaks of remarkable things Jon McGregor Winner
• Haweswater Sarah Hall
• Gaveston Stephanie Merritt
• Nightdancing Elizabeth Garner
• Negative Space Zoe Strachan
• Politics Adam Thirlwell

2002

• The Impressionist Hari Kunzru Winner
• The Dark room Rachel Seiffert
• The World unseen Shamim Sarif
• My Summer of love Helen Cross
• A Child's book of true crime Chloe Hooper
• The Earthquake bird Susanna Jones
• Cold water Gwendoline Riley

2001

• White teeth Zadie Smith Winner
• The Drink and dream teahouse Justin Hill
• Take one young man Vivien Kelly
• Moth smoke Mohsin Hamid
• Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko Patrick Neate

2000

• The Season ticket Jonathon Tulloch Winner
• The Hunter Julia Leigh
• Sunset over Chocolate Mountain Susan Elderkin
• By the shore Galaxy Craze
• The Requiem shark Nicholas Griffin

1999

• Three Dollars Elliot Perlman Winner
• The Last King of Scotland Giles Foden
• Olympia Dennis Bock
• Tipping the velvet Sarah Waters
• In beautiful disguises Rajeev Balasubramanyam

1998

• Hullabaloo in the guava orchard Kiran Desai Winner
• Zigzag Street Nick Earls
• Eclipse of the sun Phil Whitaker
• The Cure for death by lightning Gail Anderson-Dargatz
• Underground Tobias Hill

1997

• The Beach Alex Garland Winner
• Poker face Josie Barnard
• Beach boy Ardashir Vakil
• Some kind of black Diran Adebayo
• Theory of mind Sanjida O'Connell

1996

• The Debt to pleasure John Lanchester Winner
• Anita and me Meera Syal
• The Testimony of Talesin Jones Rhidian Brook
• The Luxury of exile Louisee Carol Buss

1995

• Dependence Day Robert Newman Winner
• The Smell of apples Mark Behr
• Midnight feast Martina Evans
• A Speck of coaldust Robit Manchanda Unpublished
• Hallelujah Jordan Juliet Thomas Unpublished
• The Latecomer Philippa Walshe Unpublished
• The Tennis party Madeline Wickham

1994

• Divorcing Jack Colin Bateman Winner
• Season of the rainbirds Nadeem Aslam
• After the hole Guy Burt
• The Game Frances Lairdet
• Some hope Jonathan Rix

1993

• Youll never be here again Mark Blackaby Winner
• Pig Andrew Cowan
• Tommy was here Simon Corrigan
• Mothers and other lovers Joanna Briscoe

1992

• The Dreamstone Liane Jones Winner
• Kissing through a pane of glass Peter M Rosenberg
• Under the frog Tibor Fisher
• The Last of his line Eugene Mullen Unpublished
• Never Mind Edward St Aubyn

1991

• A Strange and sublime address Amit Chaudhuri Winner
• Teaching Little Fang Mark Swallow
• Quite contrary Suzannah Dunn
• Honour thy father Lesley Glaister
• Lives of the Saints Nino Ricci

1990

• Ripley Bogle Robert McLiam Wilson Winner
• The Wild hunt Elizabeth Chadwick
• No strange land Rosemary Cohen Unpublished
• The Vision of Elena Silves Nicholas Shakespeare

1989

• The Life game Nigel Watts Winner
• Watercolour sky William Riviere
• Harry's last wedding Paul Houghton
• Uncle Henrys last stand Alasdair McKee

1988

• The General interruptor Alex Martin Joint Winner
• A Case of knives Candia McWilliam Joint Winner
• Behind the waterfall Georgina Andrewes
• Left of north James Friel
• Burning your own Glenn Patterson
• Small tales of a town Susan Webster

1987

• Return journey Helen Flint Joint Winner
• The Levels Peter Benson Joint Winner
• Hard luck James Maw
• Lost time Catherine Arnold
• Gestures H S Bhabra
• The Pink stallion Lucy Pinney

1986

• Tongues of flame Tim Parks Winner
• Family myths and legends Patricia Ferguson
• Mzungu's wife Philippa Blake
• Whore banquets Matthew Kneale
• The Road to Dilmun J F McLaughlin Unpublished
• The Prodigal father Kate Saunders

1985

• Legacy Susan Kay Winner
• A Season of peace Gary Armitage
• A Very private enterprise Elizabeth Ironside
• Instead of Eden Alice Mitchell Unpublished
• The Standing hills Caroline Stickland
• The Earth abides forever George Schweiz Unpublished

1984

• Winter journey Ronald Frame Winner
• Cold showers Clare Nonhebel
• A Parish of rich women James Buchan
• Playing fields in winter Helen Harris
• The Disinherited Gareth Jones
• The Devil's looking glass Simon Rees