Commonwealth Writers' Prize

• The Commonwealth Writer's Prize is an annual prize and was first launched in 1987 by the Commonwealth Foundation. This is an intergovernmental organisation, supported by and reporting to the different Commonwealth governments. The aim of the prize is to support works of new Commonwealth fiction and introduce them to a wider reading public.
• The prize is awarded in two categories, Best Book and Best First Book. These are first given away to regional winners, who then go on to compete against each other in order to be announced overall winner. The four regions are Africa, Europe and South Asia,South East Asia and South Pacific, Canada and the Caribbean.
• The regional winners in both categories get 1000 pounds, the overall Best Book winner is awarded with 10,000 pounds, the overall Best First Book winner with 5000 pounds. The prizes are sponsored by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of several regional organisations.
• In order to be eligible, the books have to be sent to the regional groups by the publishers. They have to be works of prose fiction (novel or collection of short stories). There are no restrictions on setting, theme or mode of the books, but books written for children alone, drama or poetry are excluded from the prize. The books have to be written by a citizen of the Commonwealth and must originally be written in English. The author must give his consent to enter the competition and must be alive on the closing date for entrie.
• The winners are announced at a ceremony in spring, held in a different country each year and also changing between the four regions.
• Zadie Smith won Best First Book in 2001 for White Teeth

2008

Overall Winners

Regional winners announced on 13 March 2008, overall winners announced on 18 May 2008

• Best Book:
• Best First Book:

Regional Winners

Africa

• Best Book: Karen King-Aribisala, The Hangman's Game (2007) - (Nigeria) Peepal Tree Press
• Best First Book: Sade Adeniran, Imagine This (2007) - (Nigeria) SW Books

Canada and the Caribbean

• Best Book: Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes (2007) - (Canada) HarperCollins Publishers
• Best First Book: CS Richardson, The End of the Alphabet (2007) - (Canada) Doubleday Canada

Europe and South Asia

• Best Book: Indra Sinha, Animal's People (2007) - (India) Simon and Schuster
• Best First Book: Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age (2007) - (Bangladesh) John Murray

South East Asia and South Pacific

• Best Book: Steven Carroll, The Time We Have Taken (2007) - (Australia) HarperCollins
• Best First Book:Karen Foxlee, The Anatomy of Wings (2007) - (Australia) University of Queensland Press

2007

Regional winners announced on 15/16 March 2007, overall winners announced on 28 May 2007

Overall Winners

• Best Book: Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip (2006)
• Best First Book: D.Y. Béchard, Vandal Love (2006)

Regional Winners

Africa

• Best Book: Shaun Johnson, The Native Commissioner (2006)
• Best First Book: Maxine Case, All We Have Left Unsaid (2006)

Canada and the Caribbean

• Best Book: David Adams Richards, The Friends of Meager Fortune (2006)
• Best First Book: D.Y. Béchard, Vandal Love (2006)

Europe and South Asia

• Best Book: Naeem Murr, The Perfect Man (2006)
• Best First Book: Hisham Matar, In the Country of Men (2006)

South East Asia and South Pacific

• Best Book: Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip (2006)
• Best First Book: Andrew O'Connor, Tuvalu (2006)

2006

Overall Winners

• Best Book: Kate Grenville, The Secret River (2005)
• Best First Book: Mark McWatt, Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement (2005)

2005

Overall Winners

• Best Book: Andrea Levy, Small Island (2004)
• Best First Book: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus (2003)