Prizes and Awards
The Alastair Buchan Prize
The Alastair Buchan Prize was founded in 1919 in memory of Alastair E Buchan, undergraduate in Arts, who was killed in action in 1917. This award is offered annually for the best poem on a prescribed subject and is open to matriculated students who have attended or are attending any class in English Literature, Scottish History or Scottish Literature. The prize is £900 for 2009-10.
The subject for 2009-10 is 'Starbursts'. We began the academic session in 2009, the International Year of Astronomy (400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope). This year marks the 250th anniversary of Glasgow's Regius Chair of Astronomy, which was the first in Scotland. As a result, the university hosted the 2010 UK National Astronomy Meeting in April. As part of the anniversary celebrations, writers from the CW programme performed their work on astronomical themes at the rededication ceremony for the refurbished observatory in Airdrie. It is hoped to hold an evening of readings from the shortlisted poets later in the year.
Entries (maximum 50 lines) should be submitted electronically to Prof Michael Schmidt at: M.schmidt@englit.arts.gla.ac.uk by Friday 2nd July with name, department, degree programme and contact details clearly stated.
The Mary McKinlay Prize
The Mary McKinlay Prize is a prize awarded annually on the recommendation of the Head of the Scottish Literature Department, to a student of English and Scottish Language and Literature. The prize is £100 for 2009-10.
The prize was established in 1995 in memory of the late distinguished schoolteacher, Mary McKinlay who had interests in the teaching and research areas represented by all three departments in the School.
The prize is adjudicated by the three conveners of the respective level 1 classes in consultation with the Head of School and the Chair of Teaching, Learning and Quality Committee.
The Sceptre Prize for New Writing
Sceptre was founded as Hodder & Stoughton’s literary imprint in 1986, and publishes both fiction and non-fiction. Dedicated to publishing new talent alongside long-established writers like Thomas Keneally, William McIlvanney and Allan Massie, Sceptre has launched the careers of novelists such as David Mitchell, Andrew Miller, Siri Hustvedt, Jill Dawson and Jake Arnott.
To coincide with its 21st anniversary celebrations in 2007, the Sceptre publishing imprint was delighted to establish a prize designed to encourage new novelists to be awarded in association with the Edwin Morgan Centre of Creative Writing at Glasgow University.
The prize, an annual award of £1,500 for a novel in progress, was first awarded at the Aye Write Festival 2008 to Alan Trotter. The 2009 prize was awarded to Fiona Rintoul for Leipzig and the 2010 prize to John Jennett for his work Manadh.
The winner's completed work will subsequently be considered for publication by Sceptre.
The prize is open to any student gaining a distinction* in their final portfolio, if the portfolio contains between 5000 and 10,000 words of a partially completed novel along with a synopsis of the rest of the work.
This year's entries will again be judged by the editorial department at Sceptre overseen by Sceptre publishing Director, Carole Welch and Bob McDevitt of Hodder Headline Scotland. The 2011 shortlist should be announced in January 2011. The shortlisted writers then read from their work at a special event at the Aye Write! literary festival in Glasgow, after which the winner is announced.
*In the event of an insufficient number of distinction portfolios, suitable manuscripts that were awarded a high merit will also be submitted..
The Curtis Brown Glasgow Prize for Fiction
With over one hundred years' experience, Curtis Brown is one of Europe's oldest and largest independent literary and talent agencies. They represent many of the world's most popular and successful authors, screenwriters, directors, actors, playwrights and celebrities. Curtis Brown have a strong connection with the Edwin Morgan Centre for Creative Writing, and award a prize of £1,500 annually to the best fiction writer from across the entire Creative Writing Programme. An agent from Curtis Brown, usually Karolina Sutton, visits each year to speak about the agency and about the prize.
The 2009 Curtis Brown Prize was awarded to Mary Paulson-Ellis. The 2010 Curtis Brown Prize was awarded to Ulrich Hansen.
Conditions of entry:
- Entry is open to any writer from any part of the programme who is working on a novel.
- Each writer may apply only once.
- MLitt students should apply after their final portfolio has been submitted. PhD and MFA students may choose to enter at any point during their course of study.
In order to be considered for the prize students must submit an extract from a novel in progress of up to 5,000 words. This year's eadline for is 5.00pm on 1st September 2010.
Curtis Brown are not committed to making an offer of representation to the prize winner, nor is the winner committed to accepting any such offer.
The McCash Prize for Poetry
Founded in 1973 by James A McCash of Gallowhill, BSc 1924, in memory of his brother William Martin McCash, MB 1921, and of his sister Margaret Stewart Lithgow McCash, MD 1929. Awarded annually for the selected best poem in Scots on the recommendation of a committee appointed by the Head of the Department of Scottish Literature of the University of Glasgow. Any form of Scots Language usage will be considered. The prize may be divided or may be withheld in any year if in the judgement of the selection committee no poem of sufficient merit is submitted. The income for that year will be added to the capital sum. The prize shall not be awarded to any candidate more often than once in any three years. The regulations may be varied from time to time by the Senate in the light of experience.
The prize competition is generally advertised in the spring, and applications must be received by 1 August. For information about the 2010 prize click here.
The Colonel Walter Scott Prize
The Colonel Walter Scott Prize. Funds are sometimes available from this source for outstanding achievement and promise in Scottish Language or Literature, to help enable those awarded to pursue a similar topic at Postgraduate level in the University of Glasgow (please see the Department of Scottish Literature website for application details).
The Andrew Tannahill Prize
The Andrew Tannahill Fund. Small postgraduate bursary awards are normally available annually for Postgraduate students pursuing a topic in Scottish Language or Literature at the University of Glasgow (please see the Department of Scottish Literature website for application details).