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 restriction on setting, theme or mode of the books, but books written for schildren 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 entries.

- The winners are announced at a ceremony in spring (March 2007), held in a different country each year and also changing between the four regions.

- The 2007 overall winners were: Lloyd Jones, "Mister Pip" - Best Book; D. Y. Bechard, "Vandal Love" - Best First Book

- Zadie Smith won Best First Book in 2001 for "White Teeth"

- homepage: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/culturediversity/writersprize/