The Betty Trask Prize and Awards

The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are awarded to a writer under the age of 35 for a first novel.

Betty Trask left a bequest to the Society of Authors in 1983 to fund the prize. The winners must be ‘of a romantic or traditional nature, i.e. not experimental’.

The prize is £20,000 (shared) and must be used for travel. It is open to published and unpublished novels.

2010

Betty Trask Prize: Black Mamba Boy Nadifa Mohamed

Betty Trask Awards:

• After the fire, a still small voice Evie Wyld
• A kind of intimacy Jenn Ashworth
• I do not come to you by chance Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

2009

Betty Trask Prize: The Wilderness Samantha Harvey

Betty Trask Award: The Rehearsal Eleanor Catton

2008

London and the South-East Winner

David Szalay (Cape)

God’s Own Country

Ross Raisin (Viking)

The Exchange Rate Between Love and Money

Thomas Leveritt (Harvill Secker)

The Floating Island

Anna Ralph (Hutchinson)

2007

• My Side of the story Will Davis (Bloomsbury) Winner
• The Truth about these strange times Adam Foulds (Weidenfeld)
• The Long Dry Cynan Jones (Parthian)
• You can live forever Julie Maxwell (Cape)
• In search of the missing eyelash Karen Mcleod (Cape)

2006

• Utterly Monkey Nick Laird Winner
• The Short Day Dying Peter Hobbs
• The Killing Jar Nicola Monaghan

2005

• Eve Green Susan Fletcher Winner
• 26a Diana Evans
• Brass Helen Walsh

2004

• Becoming Strangers Louise Dean Winner
• The Sun Road Hannah MacDonald
• The Afterglow Anthony Cartwright
• The Last Song of Dusk Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

2003

• If nobody speaks of remarkable things Jon McGregor Winner
• Haweswater Sarah Hall
• Gaveston Stephanie Merritt
• Nightdancing Elizabeth Garner
• Negative Space Zoe Strachan
• Politics Adam Thirlwell

2002

• The Impressionist Hari Kunzru Winner
• The Dark room Rachel Seiffert
• The World unseen Shamim Sarif
• My Summer of love Helen Cross
• A Child's book of true crime Chloe Hooper
• The Earthquake bird Susanna Jones
• Cold water Gwendoline Riley

2001

• White teeth Zadie Smith Winner
• The Drink and dream teahouse Justin Hill
• Take one young man Vivien Kelly
• Moth smoke Mohsin Hamid
• Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko Patrick Neate

2000

• The Season ticket Jonathon Tulloch Winner
• The Hunter Julia Leigh
• Sunset over Chocolate Mountain Susan Elderkin
• By the shore Galaxy Craze
• The Requiem shark Nicholas Griffin

1999

• Three Dollars Elliot Perlman Winner
• The Last King of Scotland Giles Foden
• Olympia Dennis Bock
• Tipping the velvet Sarah Waters
• In beautiful disguises Rajeev Balasubramanyam

1998

• Hullabaloo in the guava orchard Kiran Desai Winner
• Zigzag Street Nick Earls
• Eclipse of the sun Phil Whitaker
• The Cure for death by lightning Gail Anderson-Dargatz
• Underground Tobias Hill

1997

• The Beach Alex Garland Winner
• Poker face Josie Barnard
• Beach boy Ardashir Vakil
• Some kind of black Diran Adebayo
• Theory of mind Sanjida O'Connell

1996

• The Debt to pleasure John Lanchester Winner
• Anita and me Meera Syal
• The Testimony of Talesin Jones Rhidian Brook
• The Luxury of exile Louisee Carol Buss

1995

• Dependence Day Robert Newman Winner
• The Smell of apples Mark Behr
• Midnight feast Martina Evans
• A Speck of coaldust Robit Manchanda Unpublished
• Hallelujah Jordan Juliet Thomas Unpublished
• The Latecomer Philippa Walshe Unpublished
• The Tennis party Madeline Wickham

1994

• Divorcing Jack Colin Bateman Winner
• Season of the rainbirds Nadeem Aslam
• After the hole Guy Burt
• The Game Frances Lairdet
• Some hope Jonathan Rix

1993

• Youll never be here again Mark Blackaby Winner
• Pig Andrew Cowan
• Tommy was here Simon Corrigan
• Mothers and other lovers Joanna Briscoe

1992

• The Dreamstone Liane Jones Winner
• Kissing through a pane of glass Peter M Rosenberg
• Under the frog Tibor Fisher
• The Last of his line Eugene Mullen Unpublished
• Never Mind Edward St Aubyn

1991

• A Strange and sublime address Amit Chaudhuri Winner
• Teaching Little Fang Mark Swallow
• Quite contrary Suzannah Dunn
• Honour thy father Lesley Glaister
• Lives of the Saints Nino Ricci

1990

• Ripley Bogle Robert McLiam Wilson Winner
• The Wild hunt Elizabeth Chadwick
• No strange land Rosemary Cohen Unpublished
• The Vision of Elena Silves Nicholas Shakespeare

1989

• The Life game Nigel Watts Winner
• Watercolour sky William Riviere
• Harry's last wedding Paul Houghton
• Uncle Henrys last stand Alasdair McKee

1988

• The General interruptor Alex Martin Joint Winner
• A Case of knives Candia McWilliam Joint Winner
• Behind the waterfall Georgina Andrewes
• Left of north James Friel
• Burning your own Glenn Patterson
• Small tales of a town Susan Webster

1987

• Return journey Helen Flint Joint Winner
• The Levels Peter Benson Joint Winner
• Hard luck James Maw
• Lost time Catherine Arnold
• Gestures H S Bhabra
• The Pink stallion Lucy Pinney

1986

• Tongues of flame Tim Parks Winner
• Family myths and legends Patricia Ferguson
• Mzungu's wife Philippa Blake
• Whore banquets Matthew Kneale
• The Road to Dilmun J F McLaughlin Unpublished
• The Prodigal father Kate Saunders

1985

• Legacy Susan Kay Winner
• A Season of peace Gary Armitage
• A Very private enterprise Elizabeth Ironside
• Instead of Eden Alice Mitchell Unpublished
• The Standing hills Caroline Stickland
• The Earth abides forever George Schweiz Unpublished

1984

• Winter journey Ronald Frame Winner
• Cold showers Clare Nonhebel
• A Parish of rich women James Buchan
• Playing fields in winter Helen Harris
• The Disinherited Gareth Jones
• The Devil's looking glass Simon Rees