The closing date for submissions for The Portico Prize for Literature – the UK’s only award for outstanding Northern writing – is Saturday 31 July.

The £10,000 biennial prize is open to new works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry that best evokes the spirit of the North of England. Eligible books will have a central theme or subject that engages with some aspect of the North, whether through place, character or sensibility.

This year the judging panel is chaired by Gary Younge, the award-winning author, broadcaster and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. He is joined by leading figures from the worlds of literature, the media and academia, who all have an association with the North of England. They are: the broadcaster Melanie Sykes, (also Editor-in-Chief of The Frank Magazine and co-presenter of the Sykes & Savidge Book Club); the award-winning author and former Portico Prize winner Sarah Hall; the poet and essayist and former Young People’s Laureate for LondonMomtaza Mehri; and Anita Singh, arts and entertainment editor at The Daily Telegraph.

Gary Younge comments, “It’s an honour to chair the judging panel for such an esteemed prize that both draws from and promotes the rich and varied tradition of writing and writers from the North of England.”

The judges will choose a shortlist of six books from a longlist of up to 14, which will be selected by The Portico Prize’s Society of Readers and Writers, an appointed group of 21 writers, academics, poets, critics, librarians and editors.

Included in the Society are: Yvonne Battle-Felton, author of Remembered, which was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2020); Beth Barker, writer and co-host of the Up North Books podcast; Graham Caveney, who was shortlisted for the Portico Prize in 2020; Jake Hope, children’s book consultant who was named as one of the top ten librarians of the future in the ‘Love Libraries Campaign’; Natasha Junejo, writer, social justice campaigner and founder of #SouthAsianWriters; and Katy Shaw who leads research into 21st century writings at Northumbria University.

Lynne Allan, Chair of The Portico Library says, “The Portico Prize makes a welcome return in 2021. We’re thrilled to be working with this year’s Society of Readers and Writers, whose passion and dedication to reading and writing will help us to select an initial longlist and shine a spotlight on the most important new writing about the North, in all its diversity. We are also fortunate to have such a distinguished panel of judges to accomplish the difficult task of selecting the shortlist and winner from a very strong field of entries.”

The longlist will be announced on Tuesday 28 September, followed by the shortlist on Tuesday 7 December. Further details of the winner announcement in January 2022 to follow.

Publishers are invited to submit works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry published between 1 August 2019 and 31 July 2021.

For further information about the Portico Prize click here.

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