# Desmond Elliott Prize

The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for the best debut novel written in English and published in the UK. The winning novel can be from any genre of fiction and must exhibit depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The winner receives £10,000. The prize is named in honour of the distinguished late publisher and literary agent, Desmond Elliott.

## History and administration

The Desmond Elliott Prize was inaugurated at the bequest of Desmond Elliott, who died in August 2003. He stipulated that his literary estate should be invested in a charitable trust that would fund a literary award "to enrich the careers of new writers". The prize is therefore dedicated to supporting and celebrating aspiring authors and their fiction.
The Desmond Elliott Prize was launched in 2007 as a biennial award for a first novel published in the UK. The inaugural prize was won by Nikita Lalwani for her novel, Gifted, in June 2008. After the successful launch of the prize, the trustees decided to make it an annual award. Edward Hogan won the prize in 2009 for his novel Blackmoor, Ali Shaw the 2010 prize for his novel The Girl with Glass Feet and Anjali Joseph in 2011 for her novel Saraswati Park.
The prize is administered by Emma Manderson and the trustees of The Desmond Elliott Charitable Trust, a UK charitable foundation. The Trust is chaired by Dallas Manderson, former Group Sales Director of the Orion Publishing Group. He is joined by Christine Berry, a partner in the charities group at Taylor Vinters, a Cambridge-based law firm, and Liz Thomson, an arts journalist and author. Both Dallas and Christine worked with Desmond Elliott at Arlington Books.

## Judging

The panel of three judges, which changes each year, is selected by the trustees of the prize.
When selecting a winner, the judges look for a novel with a compelling narrative, arresting character, and which is both vividly written and confidently realised.
Previous chairs of the prize include author Sam Llewellyn (2012), BBC broadcaster and presenter Edward Stourton (2011), and authors Elizabeth Buchan (2010), Candida Lycett Green (2009) and Penny Vincenzi (2008).

## Rules and entry

The prize is awarded annually for the best first full-length work of fiction written in English published in book form in the UK, written by an author whose permanent place of residence is in the UK or Ireland. Entries are considered from all fiction genres.
The prize is selected from a longlist of 10 titles, followed by a shortlist of three outstanding books. For inclusion in this shortlist, a novel must have the full support of at least one judge in whose opinion it is a valid contender for the Prize. Each shortlisted author receives a hamper from Fortnum & Mason.
The winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize is announced at an awards ceremony held at Fortnum & Mason, Desmond Elliott's local grocer.

## Winners and shortlists

| Year | Author | Book | Publisher |
| 2008 | Nikita Lalwani | Gifted | Penguin Books |
| 2008 | Tom Rob Smith | Child 44 | Simon & Schuster |
| 2008 | John Walsh | Sunday at The Cross Bones | Fourth Estate |
| 2009 | Edward Hogan | Blackmoor | Simon & Schuster |
| 2009 | Nathalie Abi-Ezzi | A Girl Made of Dust | Fourth Estate |
| 2009 | Anthony Quinn | The Rescue Man | Jonathan Cape |
| 2010 | Ali Shaw | The Girl with Glass Feet | Atlantic Books |
| 2010 | Maria Allen | Before the Earthquake | Tindal Street Press |
| 2010 | Jacob Polley | Talk of the Town | Picador |
| 2011 | Anjali Joseph | Saraswati Park | Fourth Estate |
| 2011 | Ned Beauman | Boxer, Beetle | Sceptre |
| 2011 | Stephen Kelman | Pigeon English | Bloomsbury |
| 2012 | Grace McCleen | The Land of Decoration | Chatto & Windus |
| 2012 | Patrick McGuinness | The Last Hundred Days | Seren |
| 2012 | Rachel Joyce | The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry | Doubleday |
| 2013 | Ros Barber | The Marlowe Papers | Sceptre |
| 2013 | Jenni Fagan | The Panopticon | Heinemann |
| 2013 | Gavin Extence | The Universe Versus Alex Woods | Hodder & Stoughton |
| 2014 | Eimear McBride | A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing | Galley Beggar Press |
| 2014 | Robert Allison | The Letter Bearer | Catapult Press |
| 2014 | D. W. Wilson | Ballistics | Bloomsbury |
| 2015 | Claire Fuller | Our Endless Numbered Days | Penguin Books |
| 2015 | Emma Healey | Elizabeth Is Missing | Harper Publishing |
| 2015 | Carys Bray | A Song for Issy Bradley | Ballantine Books |
| 2016 | Lisa McInerney | The Glorious Heresies | John Murray |
| 2016 | Gavin McCrea | Mrs. Engels | Scribe Publications |
| 2016 | Julia Rochester | The House at the Edge of the World | Penguin Books |
| 2017 | Francis Spufford | Golden Hill | Faber & Faber |
| 2017 | Kit de Waal | My Name Is Leon | Viking Press |
| 2017 | Rowan Hisayo Buchanan | Harmless Like You | Sceptre |
| 2018 | Preti Taneja | We That Are Young | Galley Beggar Press |
| 2018 | Paula Cocozza | How to Be Human | Metropolitan Books |
| 2018 | Gail Honeyman | Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine | Viking Press |
| 2019 | Claire Adam | Golden Child | Faber & Faber |
| 2019 | Michael Donkor | Hold | Fourth Estate |
| 2019 | Anna Mackmin | Devoured | Propolis Press |
| 2020 | Derek Owusu | That Reminds Me | Merky Books |
| 2020 | Okechukwu Nzelu | The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney | Dialogue Books |
| 2020 | Abi Daré | The Girl with the Louding Voice | Sceptre |
| 2021 | A. K. Blakemore | The Manningtree Witches | Granta |
| 2021 | Rebecca Watson | little scratch | Faber & Faber |
| 2021 | Eley Williams | The Liar's Dictionary | William Heinemann |
| 2022 | Maddie Mortimer | Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies | Picador |
| 2022 | Luke Cassidy | Iron Annie | Bloomsbury |
| 2022 | Tice Cin | Keeping the House | And Other Stories |