McDonald's sign, Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, BC. Copyright © 2004 Deborah McIntosh

Literary Prizes for Fiction

• Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize - April 2007
  The largest literature prize in Australia, $40,000 (AUS) awarded biennially for the best novel by an author who is a resident and/or citizen of Australia, New Zealand or Melanesia. In 2005 the prize was awarded to Michelle de Kretser for The Hamilton Case.
• The Pulitzer Prizes - April 16, 2007
  Awards of $10,000 (US) to citizens of the United States for achievement in American journalism, letters, drama and music. Columbia University awards the Pulitzer Prizes in Letters annually on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize jurors. The 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Geraldine Brooks for March.
• Los Angeles Times Book Prizes - April 27, 2007
  Awarded in nine categories for books in English by writers of any nationality. The 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction was awarded to Gabriel Garcia Marquez for Memories of My Melancholy Whores. The 2005 Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction was awarded to Uzodinma Iweala for Beasts of No Nation.
• Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (British Columbia Book Prizes) - April 28, 2007
  Administered and awarded by members of a non-profit society who represent all facets of the publishing and writing community. The author must be a British Columbia or Yukon resident. The 2006 prize was awarded to Charlotte Gill for Ladykiller.

• Independent Foreign Fiction Prize - May 1, 2007
  An award of £10,000 supported by Arts Council England and Champagne Taittinger. The winner of the 2006 prize was Per Petterson for Out Stealing Horses.
• Commonwealth Writers Prize - May 27, 2007
  Awarded in four regions, in a number of categories, for work written in English by a citizen of the Commonwealth. The 2006 winner in the "Best Book" category was Kate Grenville for The Secret River. "Best First Book" went to Mark McWatt for Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement.
• Christina Stead Prize for Fiction (NSW Premier's Literary Awards) - late May 2007
  Honours distinguished achievement by Australian writers. Established by Premier Neville Wran in 1979, the NSW Premier's awards were the first comprehensive awards of their kind in Australia, and remain the most comprehensive and best remunerated in the country. The winner of the 2006 prize for fiction was Kate Grenville for The Secret River.

• Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize - May 2007
  An annual award of £10,000 endowed by Sir Christopher Ondaatje for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry "evoking the spirit of a place". Awarded by the Royal Society of Literature. The winner of the 2006 prize was James Meek for The People's Act of Love. (This prize was formerly known as the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.)
• The Man Booker International Prize - June 2007
  Recognizes a living author for his/her achievement in fiction published either originally in English, or generally available in translation in the English language. The prize is awarded every two years, and the winner receives £60,000. The 2007 "Judges' list of contenders" will be announced on April 12, 2007. The 2005 Man Booker International Prize was awarded to Albania's best-known poet and novelist, Ismail Kadaré.
• The Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction - June 6, 2007
  For fiction written by a woman writing in English, whatever her nationality or country of residence. The winner of the Orange Prize receives an anonymously endowed £30,000. The 2006 prize was awarded to Zadie Smith for On Beauty.
• The IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - June 14, 2007
  For a novel of high literary merit written in the English language, or written in any other language and published in English translation. The nomination process for the Award is unique as nominations are made by selected libraries in capital and major cities throughout the world. The winner of the 2006 prize was Colm Tóibín for The Master.

• The Somerset Maugham Awards - June 2007
  W. Somerset Maugham set up a fund in 1947 to enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience of foreign countries. The Somerset Maugham Award(s) -- there may be more than one -- are made annually by the British Society of Authors, for a published work of any genre except drama. To be eligible, writers must be British and under the age of 35, and the prize money must be used for foreign travel. The winners of the 2006 Somerset Maugham Awards were Chris Cleave for Incendiary, Owen Sheers for Skirrid Hill and Zadie Smith for On Beauty.
• The Betty Trask Prize - June 2007
  Betty Trask left a bequest to the Society of Authors in 1983 to fund a prize for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 in a "romantic or traditional, but not experimental" style. The author must be a Commonwealth citizen, and the work submitted must be in the English language and the work of one author (not a translation). The prize money must be used for foreign travel. The winner of the 2006 Betty Trask Prize was Nick Laird for Utterly Monkey.
• The McKitterick Prize - June 2007
  Tom McKitterick, the former editor of Political Quarterly and author of an unpublished novel, endowed the McKitterick Prize which was first awarded in 1990. It is given annually to an author over the age of 40 for a first novel, published or unpublished. The winner of the 2006 McKitterick Prize was Peter Pouncey for Rules for Old Men Waiting.
• Miles Franklin Literary Award - June 21, 2007
  Established in 1954 with a bequest from author Miles Franklin (My Brilliant Career), the Miles Franklin Literary Award "celebrates Australian character and creativity and nurtures the continuing life of literature based on Australia". It is awarded for the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and which presents Australian life in any of its phases. The 2005 Prize was $42,000 (AU), making the MLFA the richest literary prize in Australia. The 2006 MLFA was awarded to Roger McDonald for his novel The Ballad of Desmond Kale.
• The Deutz Medal (Montana New Zealand Book Awards) - July 30, 2007
  Introduced in 1998, the Deutz Medal recognises a single outstanding work of fiction or poetry published in the twelve month period covered by the awards (prior to 2005 the medal was awarded for fiction only). The winning author receives a prize of $10,000. The winner of the 2006 Deutz Medal for Fiction was Maurice Gee for Blindsight.
• The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes - August 25, 2007
  Scotland's most prestigious and the UK's oldest literary award, for biography and fiction written in English. The nationality of the writer is irrelevant. The winner of the 2005 prize for fiction was Ian McEwan for Saturday. The shortlist of candidates for the 2006 prize will be announced in mid-June 2007.
• The Man Booker Prize - October 16, 2007
  Awarded to the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. Financed by Booker McConnell, a multinational conglomerate. In 2002 the Man Group became sponsor of the Booker Prize Foundation. The longlist will be announced in August 2007 and the shortlist in September 2007. The winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize was Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss.
• The Scotiabank Giller Prize - November 6, 2007
  Awards $25,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English. The prize is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller, and was founded in 1994 by her husband, Jack Rabinovitch. The 2007 shortlist will be announced on October 9, 2007. The winner of the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize was Vincent Lam for Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures.
• The Governor General's Literary Awards - November 2007
  Awarded to the best English-language and the best French-language Canadian book in each of seven categories, including fiction. BMO Financial Group has been the sponsor of these awards for the past eighteen years. The winner of the 2006 award for fiction was Peter Behrens for The Law of Dreams.
• National Book Awards - November 14, 2007
  For fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature. Books must be published in the USA, and the writer must be a US citizen. The winners, selected by five-member, independent judging panels for each genre, receive $10,000 (US). The winner of the 2006 prize for fiction was Richard Powers for The Echo Maker.
• Juan Rulfo Award for Latin American and Caribbean Literature - November 2007
  For fiction written in any of the languages spoken in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Iberian Peninsula. The award was created in 1991 by the University of Guadalajara and various public and private institutions. The winner is awarded $100,000, and his or her work is celebrated at the annual Guadalajara International Book Fair (authors, editors, and critics who take part in an all day tribute at the Fair analyze the life and work of the winner). The winner of the 2006 prize was Mexican writer Carlos Monsiváis.
• John Llewellyn Rhys Prize - December 2007
  One of Britain's oldest literary awards, for the best work of literature by a writer aged 35 or under. Founded in honour of the writer John Llewellyn Rhys, who was killed in action in WWII. Entries may be any work of literature written in English and published in the UK by a British or Commonwealth writer. The winner receives £5,000. Formerly sponsored by the Mail on Sunday, the prize is currently administered by Booktrust (an independent educational charity "working to bring books and people together"). The 2005 prize was awarded in December 2006 to Uzodinma Iweala for his novel Beasts of No Nation.
• The Nobel Prize in Literature - December 10th each year
  Awarded to the person who during the preceding year has produced "the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" in the field of literature. Awarded every year on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. The recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature was Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk.
• Guardian First Book Award - December 2007
  The Guardian first book award was established in 1999 to reward the finest new literary talent with a £10,000 prize for an author's first book (it replaced the Guardian Fiction Prize, awarded since 1965 to a work of fiction by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the UK). Now in its eighth year, the award is open to writing across all genres. It is unique among book awards as debut works of fiction are judged alongside those of non-fiction. The 2007 shortlist will be announced in November 2007. The 2006 Guardian Award was awarded to Yiyun Li's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
• Costa (formerly Whitbread) Book Awards - January 2008
  For books published in the UK or Ireland. Applicants must have resided in the UK or Ireland, though UK/Irish nationality is not essential. Each of the category winners receives £5,000, and the overall winner receives a further £25,000. The 2006 Costa First Novel Award was awarded to Stef Penney for The Tenderness of Wolves, and William Boyd won the Costa Novel Award for Restless. The 2006 Book of the Year was Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves.
• Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize - March 2008
  The Writers' Trust of Canada and Rogers Communication Inc. sponsor this $15,000 prize awarded to the novel or short-story collection recognized to be the year's best book of fiction. Between three and five titles are shortlisted, and prizes of $2,000 are awarded to each of the finalists. To be eligible, books must be English-language works written by a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant and published in Canada. Translations from other languages into English are also eligible and are considered in the year in which the English translation is published. The winner of the 2006 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize was Kenneth J. Harvey for Inside.
• National Book Critics Circle Award - March 2008
  For the best book in five categories, including fiction, published in English (including translations) in the United States. Titles by authors from any country are eligible; the only requirement is that they are published in the US. The winner of the 2006 NBCC award for fiction was Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss.
• The Kiriyama Prize - March 2008
  Promotes books that will contribute to greater understanding and cooperation among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia. The Prize is worth $30,000 (US). Half of the cash award is given to the author of the winning fiction title, and half is given to the author of the winning nonfiction title. The 2007 Kiriyama Prize for fiction was awarded to Japanese writer Haruki Murakami for his short story collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction - April 2008
  For the best work of fiction by an American author. PEN/Faulkner was founded in 1980 by writers to honour their peers, and is now the largest juried award for fiction in the US. It is named in honor of William Faulkner, who used his Nobel Prize funds to create an award for young writers. The winning writer receives $15,000 at an award ceremony held each May; four other nominees receive $5,000 each. The judges generally name five finalists in early to mid-March. The 2007 PEN/Faulkner prize was awarded to Philip Roth for Everyman. Roth was the first writer to receive the PEN/Faulkner Award three times, the first time in 1994 for Operation Shylock and again in 2001 for The Human Stain.