Sceptre Publishing and Glasgow University have announced a new prize to encourage Scotland's future novelists.

The annual award of £1500 will be presented for the best work in progress by a student from the Edwin Morgan Centre of Creative Writing at Glasgow University.

Convener of the Creative Writing course at the University, Professor Michael Schmidt, said: 'This is a very exciting prize to be able to offer our students. Scotland has a fantastic history of excellence in the creative writing field and we want to ensure that this continues by encouraging and developing potential novelists.

'By working with Sceptre we can ensure that there are continued links between emerging writers and publishers.'

Entries will be judged by the editorial department at Sceptre overseen by Sceptre publishing Director, Carole Welch and Bob McDevitt of Hodder Headline Scotland. The prize will be annual and the first winner will be announced in December 2007 and presented at the Aye Write! literary festival in Glasgow.

Each submission must be no less than 15,000 words and no more than 20,000 words of a novel or novel in progress by students who have gained a merit or distinction during their course. A synopsis of the remainder of the novel will also be required. The winner's completed work will then be considered for publication by Sceptre.

Kate Richardson (K.Richardson@admin.gla.ac.uk)

Founded in 1995, Glasgow University's Creative Writing Masters Course has proved one of the most successful of its kind in the UK and one which has nurtured a wide range of talent including Rachel Seiffert, Louise Welsh and Anne Donovan.

The University of Glasgow also recently announced its commitment to supporting creative writing in Scotland through sponsorship of the Aye Write! literary festival for the next three years.

Sceptre, Hodder & Stoughton?s literary imprint, is similarly dedicated to recognising and fostering new talent. It has launched the careers of authors such as David Mitchell, Andrew Miller, Siri Hustvedt and Jake Arnott.

Contacts:
Henry Jeffreys at Sceptre: 020 7873 6177 or email henry.jeffreys@hodder.co.uk

Kate Richardson at the University of Glasgow: 0141 330 3683 or email K.Richardson@admin.gla.ac.uk

First published: 29 January 2007