The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was established in 1942 by Jane Oliver in commemoration of her
husband John Llewellyn Rhys, a young writer and pilot killed at the beginning of World War II. It
is awarded to the best English language work of literature, fiction or non-fiction, written by a
British or Commonwealth writer under the age of 35 and published in the United Kingdom. The winner
receives £5,000 and the five shortlisted runners-up each receive £500. Previous winners are not
eligible.
It was at one time known as the "Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize" thanks to the
sponsorship of that newspaper. In 2002 the prize was initally awarded to Hari Kunzru for The
Impressionist but he declined to accept it due to what he alleged was the Mail on Sunday's
consistent "hostility towards black and Asian British people". The judges awarded the prize to one of
the other shortlisted works and the Mail on Sunday withdrew its sponsorship following the award of the
2003 prize.
The 2005 winner was announced on the 6th December 2006 as the twenty-three year old Uzodinma
Iweala for his Beasts of No Nation. Iweala is from Nigeria where his mother is the current
finance minister.
Winners of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
There were joint winners in 1962 and 1975, and no award was made in either 1952 nor 1976.
- 1942 - Michael Richey, Sunk by a Mine
- 1943 - Morwenna Donelly, Beauty for Ashes
- 1944 - Alun Lewis, The Last Inspection
- 1945 - James Aldridge, The Sea Eagle
- 1946 - Oriel Malet, My Bird Sings
- 1947 - Anne-Marie Walters, Moondrop to Gascony
- 1948 - Richard Mason, The Wind Cannot Read
- 1949 - Emma Smith, Maiden's Trip
- 1950 - Kenneth Allsop, Adventure Lit Their Star
- 1951 - Elizabeth Jane Howard, The Beautiful Visit
- 1952 - No Award
- 1953 - Rachel Trickett, The Return Home
- 1954 - Tom Stacey, The Hostile Sun
- 1955 - John Wiles, The Moon to Play With
- 1956 - John Hearne, Voices Under the Window
- 1957 - Ruskin Bond, The Room on the Roof
- 1958 - V. S. Naipaul, The Mystic Masseur
- 1959 - Dan Jacobson, A Long Way from London
- 1960 - David Caute, At Fever Pitch
- 1961 - David Storey, Flight Into Camden
- 1962 - Robert Rhodes James, An Introduction to the House of Commons
- 1962 - Edward Lucie-Smith, A Tropical Childhood and Other Poems
- 1963 - Peter Marshall, Two Lives
- 1964 - Nell Dunn, Up the Junction
- 1965 - Julian Mitchell, The White Father
- 1966 - Margaret Drabble, The Millstone
- 1967 - Anthony Masters, The Seahorse
- 1968 - Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop
- 1969 - Melvyn Bragg, Without a City Wall
- 1970 - Angus Calder, The People's War
- 1971 - Shiva Naipaul, Fireflies
- 1972 - Susan Hill, The Albatross
- 1973 - Peter Smalley, A Warm Gun
- 1974 - Hugh Fleetwood, The Girl Who Passed for Normal
- 1975 - David Hare, Knuckle
- 1975 - Tim Jeal, Cushing's Crusade
- 1976 - No Award
- 1977 - Richard Cork, Vorticism & Abstract Art in the First Machine Age
- 1978 - A. N. Wilson, The Sweets of Pimlico
- 1979 - Peter Boardman, The Shining Mountain
- 1980 - Desmond Hogan, The Diamonds at the Bottom of the Sea
- 1981 - A. N. Wilson, The Laird of Abbotsford
- 1982 - William Boyd, An Ice-Cream War
- 1983 - Lisa St Aubin de Teran, The Slow Train to Milan
- 1984 - Andrew Motion, Dangerous Play
- 1985 - John Milne, Out of the Blue
- 1986 - Tim Parks, Loving Roger
- 1987 - Jeanette Winterson, The Passion
- 1988 - Matthew Yorke, The March Fence
- 1989 - Claire Harman, Sylvia Townsend Warner
- 1990 - Ray Monk, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius
- 1991 - A. L. Kennedy, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains
- 1992 - Matthew Kneale, Sweet Thames
- 1993 - Jason Goodwin, On Foot to the Golden Horn: A Walk to Istanbul
- 1994 - Jonathan Coe, What a Carve Up!
- 1995 - Melanie McGrath, Motel Nirvana
- 1996 - Nicola Barker, Heading Inland
- 1997 - Phil Whitaker, Eclipse of the Sun
- 1998 - Peter Ho Davies, The Ugliest House in the World
- 1999 - David Mitchell, Ghostwritten
- 2000 - Edward Platt, Leadville
- 2001 - Susanna Jones, The Earthquake Bird
- 2002 - Mary Laven, Virgins of Venice
- 2003 - Charlotte Mendelson, Daughters of Jerusalem
- 2004 - Jonathan Trigell, Boy A
- 2005 - Uzodinma Iweala, Beasts of No Nation
References
http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/rhys.html
http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500045/Mail_on_Sunday_John_Llewellyn_Rhys_Prize.html
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1089901,00.html
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1964537,00.html
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