# John Llewellyn Rhys Prize

The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom. Established in 1942, it was one of the oldest literary awards in the UK.
Since 2011, the award has been suspended by funding problems. The last award was in 2010.

## History

The prize was initiated in 1942 by Jane Oliver in memory of her husband, John Llewellyn Rhys, a young author who was killed on 5 August 1940 while serving as a bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force.
From 1987 to 2003, the prize was funded by the Mail on Sunday. The newspaper withdrew in 2003, after the initial winner of 2002 prize, Hari Kunzru, rejected the prize and criticised the Mail of Sunday for "hostility towards black and Asian people" Subsequently, the prize was sponsored by Booktrust, an independent educational charity, but in June 2011 the award was suspended due to funding problems. Booktrust said that it "strongly" intended to bring the award "back with a bang as soon as possible" as it looked for outside funding sources.
In 2010, the winner received £5,000, while the runners-up each received £500.

## Winners (1942–1999)

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners, 1942–1999 :
| Year | Author | Title | ISBN (or OCLC) |
| 1942 | Michael Richey | Sunk by a Mine | |
| 1943 | Morwenna Donnelly | Beauty for Ashes | OCLC 10175035 |
| 1944 | Alun Lewis | The Last Inspection | OCLC 1648392 |
| 1945 | James Aldridge | The Sea Eagle | OCLC 1115675 |
| 1946 | Oriel Malet | My Bird Sings | OCLC 1550666 |
| 1947 | Anne-Marie Walters | Moondrop to Gascony | OCLC 458854780 |
| 1948 | Richard Mason | The Wind Cannot Read | OCLC 2188096 |
| 1949 | Emma Smith | Maidens' Trip | OCLC 771823005 |
| 1950 | Kenneth Allsop | Adventure Lit Their Star | OCLC 77347740 |
| 1951 | Elizabeth Jane Howard | The Beautiful Visit | OCLC 1637250 |
| 1952 | No award | No award | No award |
| 1953 | Rachel Trickett | The Return Home | OCLC 21354135 |
| 1954 | Tom Stacey | The Hostile Sun | OCLC 2451930 |
| 1955 | John Wiles | The Moon to Play With | OCLC 1508671 |
| 1956 | John Hearne | Voices Under the Window | OCLC 2175560 |
| 1957 | Ruskin Bond | The Room on the Roof | OCLC 1579534 |
| 1958 | V. S. Naipaul | The Mystic Masseur | OCLC 47838372 |
| 1959 | Dan Jacobson | A Long Way from London | OCLC 1161266 |
| 1960 | David Caute | At Fever Pitch | OCLC 753130422 |
| 1961 | David Storey | Flight into Camden | OCLC 1816514 |
| 1962 | Robert Rhodes James | An Introduction to the House of Commons | OCLC 1825470 |
| 1962 | Edward Lucie-Smith | A Tropical Childhood and Other Poems | OCLC 2469981 |
| 1963 | Peter Marshall | Two Lives | OCLC 1301629 |
| 1964 | Nell Dunn | Up the Junction | OCLC 1675517 |
| 1965 | Julian Mitchell | The White Father | OCLC 1246449 |
| 1966 | Margaret Drabble | The Millstone | OCLC 1355165 |
| 1967 | Anthony Masters | The Seahorse | OCLC 1018374 |
| 1968 | Angela Carter | The Magic Toyshop | ISBN 978-0-860-68190-8 |
| 1969 | Melvyn Bragg | Without a City Wall | ISBN 978-0-340-43102-3 |
| 1970 | Angus Calder | The People's War | ISBN 978-0-712-65284-1 |
| 1971 | Shiva Naipaul | Fireflies | ISBN 978-0-140-03150-8 |
| 1972 | Susan Hill | The Albatross | ISBN 978-0-140-03649-7 |
| 1973 | Peter Smalley | A Warm Gun | ISBN 978-0-233-96172-9 |
| 1974 | Hugh Fleetwood | The Girl Who Passed for Normal | ISBN 978-0-812-87034-3 |
| 1975 | David Hare | Knuckle | ISBN 978-0-571-04980-6 |
| 1975 | Tim Jeal | Cushing's Crusade | ISBN 978-0-434-37209-6 |
| 1976 | No award | No award | No award |
| 1977 | Richard Cork | Vorticism & Abstract Art in the First Machine Age | ISBN 978-0-900-40624-9 |
| 1978 | A. N. Wilson | The Sweets of Pimlico | ISBN 978-0-140-06697-5 |
| 1979 | Peter Boardman | The Shining Mountain | ISBN 978-0-099-20920-1 |
| 1980 | Desmond Hogan | The Diamonds at the Bottom of the Sea | ISBN 978-0-241-10123-0 |
| 1981 | A. N. Wilson | The Laird of Abbotsford | ISBN 978-0-192-11756-4 |
| 1982 | William Boyd | An Ice-Cream War | ISBN 978-0-241-95356-3 |
| 1983 | Lisa St Aubin de Terán | The Slow Train to Milan | ISBN 978-0-140-06954-9 |
| 1984 | Andrew Motion | Dangerous Play | ISBN 978-0-140-07352-2 |
| 1985 | John Milne | Out of the Blue | ISBN 978-0-241-11489-6 |
| 1986 | Tim Parks | Loving Roger | ISBN 978-0-802-10016-0 |
| 1987 | Jeanette Winterson | The Passion | ISBN 978-0-099-73441-3 |
| 1988 | Matthew Yorke | The March Fence | ISBN 978-0-140-11636-6 |
| 1989 | Claire Harman | Sylvia Townsend Warner | ISBN 978-0-701-12938-5 |
| 1990 | Ray Monk | Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius | ISBN 978-0-099-88370-8 |
| 1991 | A. L. Kennedy | Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains | ISBN 978-0-099-45006-1 |
| 1992 | Matthew Kneale | Sweet Thames | ISBN 978-0-140-29663-1 |
| 1993 | Jason Goodwin | On Foot to the Golden Horn: A Walk to Istanbul | ISBN 978-0-701-13668-0 |
| 1994 | Jonathan Coe | What a Carve Up! | ISBN 978-0-141-03329-7 |
| 1995 | Melanie McGrath | Motel Nirvana | ISBN 978-0-006-54715-0 |
| 1996 | Nicola Barker | Heading Inland | ISBN 978-0-007-43571-5 |
| 1997 | Phil Whitaker | Eclipse of the Sun | ISBN 978-0-753-80948-8 |
| 1998 | Peter Ho Davies | The Ugliest House in the World | ISBN 978-0-395-78629-1 |
| 1999 | David Mitchell | Ghostwritten | ISBN 978-0-340-73974-7 |

## Winners and shortlists (since 2000)

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners and shortlists, 2000–2010 :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2000 | Edward Platt | Leadville | Winner |
| 2000 | Julia Leigh | The Hunter | Finalist |
| 2000 | Roddy Lumsden | The Book of Love | Finalist |
| 2000 | Cole Moreton | Hungry for Home Leaving the Blaskets: A Journey from the Edge of Ireland | Finalist |
| 2000 | Ben Rice | Pobby and Dingan | Finalist |
| 2000 | Zadie Smith | White Teeth | Finalist |
| 2001 | Susanna Jones | The Earthquake Bird | Winner |
| 2001 | Esther Morgan | Beyond Calling Distance | Finalist |
| 2002 | Mary Laven | Virgins of Venice | Winner |
| 2002 | Sonya Hartnett | Thursday's Child | Finalist |
| 2002 | Chloe Hooper | A Child's Book of True Crime | Finalist |
| 2002 | Mary Laven | Virgins of Venice | Finalist |
| 2002 | Kamila Shamsie | Kartography | Finalist |
| 2003 | Charlotte Mendelson | Daughters of Jerusalem | Winner |
| 2004 | Jonathan Trigell | Boy A | Winner |
| 2004 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Purple Hibiscus | Finalist |
| 2004 | Neil Bennun | The Broken String: The Last Words of an Extinct People | Finalist |
| 2004 | Anthony Cartwright | The Afterglow | Finalist |
| 2004 | Colin McAdam | Some Great Thing | Finalist |
| 2004 | Rory Stewart | The Places in Between | Finalist |
| 2005 | Uzodinma Iweala | Beasts of No Nation | Winner |
| 2005 | Rana Dasgupta | Tokyo Cancelled | Finalist |
| 2005 | Peter Hobbs | The Short Day Dying | Finalist |
| 2005 | Sinéad Morrissey | The State of the Prisons | Finalist |
| 2005 | Rebecca Ray | Newfoundland | Finalist |
| 2005 | Rachel Zadok | Gem Squash Tokoloshe | Finalist |
| 2006/7 | Sarah Hall | The Carhullan Army | Winner |
| 2006/7 | Ceridwen Dovey | Blood Kin | Finalist |
| 2006/7 | Joanna Kavenna | Inglorious | Finalist |
| 2006/7 | Robert Macfarlane | The Wild Places | Finalist |
| 2006/7 | Gwendoline Riley | Joshua Spassky | Finalist |
| 2006/7 | Rory Stewart | Occupational Hazards | Finalist |
| 2008 | Henry Hitchings | The Secret Life of Words | Winner |
| 2008 | Aravind Adiga | The White Tiger | Finalist |
| 2008 | Adam Foulds | The Broken Word | Finalist |
| 2008 | James Palmer | The Bloody White Baron | Finalist |
| 2008 | Ross Raisin | God's Own Country | Finalist |
| 2008 | Brian Schofield | Selling Your Father's Bones | Finalist |
| 2009 | Evie Wyld | After the Fire, A Still Small Voice | Winner |
| 2009 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | The Thing Around Your Neck | Finalist |
| 2009 | Aravind Adiga | Between the Assassinations | Finalist |
| 2009 | Emma Jones | The Striped World | Finalist |
| 2009 | James Maskalyk | Six Months in Sudan | Finalist |
| 2009 | Tristram Stuart | Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal | Finalist |
| 2010 | Amy Sackville | The Still Point | Winner |
| 2010 | Cordelia Fine | Delusions of Gender | Finalist |
| 2010 | Susan Fletcher | Corrag | Finalist |
| 2010 | Kei Miller | A Light Song of Light | Finalist |
| 2010 | Nadifa Mohamed | Black Mamba Boy | Finalist |
| 2010 | Daniel Swift | Bomber County | Finalist |