The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award is a literary prize awarded to a British author under the age of 35 for a published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. It is administered by the Society of Authors and has been running since 1991.Getting a Life by Helen Simpson powells.com
History The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award is said here to have originally run between 1991 and 2009, but there is evidence to confirm that it began twenty years earlier. At that time entries were confined to short stories and published in the newspaper itself. The 1974 winner was Charles Nicholl, who went on to become well-known for historical biographies. "The Ups and The Downs" was Charles Nicholl's disturbing and humorous account of a bad LSD trip in London.
In 1999, Paul Farley's The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You "was so well received", according to the Encyclopedia of British Writers, that "it was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award".
It was re-invigorated with the support of literary agents Peters Fraser + Dunlop in 2015 under the new name Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award.
In 2019, the University of Warwick took over as co-sponsor. The award was renamed the Sunday Times / University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award.
Name history
1991 to 2009 – Sunday Times Young Writer Award Starting 2015 – Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award Starting 2019 – Sunday Times / University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award Starting 2021 – Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award
Winners YearAuthorTitlePublisherAwardJudges1991Helen SimpsonFour Bare Legs in a Bed and Other StoriesWilliam HeinemannWinner1992Caryl PhillipsCambridgeBloomsburyWinner1993Simon ArmitageXanadu: A Poem Film for Television and KidBloodaxe/Faber & FaberWinner1994William DalrympleCity of Djinns: A Year in DehliHarperCollinsWinner1995Andrew CowanPigMichael JosephWinner1996Katherine PierpointTruffle BedsFaber & FaberWinner1997Francis SpuffordI May Be Some Time: Ice and the English ImaginationFaber & FaberWinner1998Patrick FrenchLiberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and DivisionHarperCollinsWinner1999Paul FarleyThe Boy from the Chemist is Here to See YouPan MacmillanWinner2000Sarah WatersAffinityViragoWinner2001Zadie SmithWhite TeethHamish HamiltonWinner2002No award made2003William FiennesPicador ClassicWinner2004Robert MacfarlaneMountains of the MindGranta BooksWinner2005No award made2006No award made2007Naomi AldermanDisobediencePenguinWinnerHoratio ClareRunning for the HillsJohn MurrayShortlistRory StewartOccupational Hazards: My Time Governing in IraqPicadorJohn StubbsJohn Donne: The Reformed SoulW. W. Norton & Company2008Adam FouldsWeidenfeld & NicolsonWinnerNikita LalwaniGiftedVikingShortlistJames McConnachieThe Book of Love: In Search of the Kamasutra Kama SutraAtlanticRobert McfarlaneThe Wild PlacesGranta2009Ross RaisinGod's Own CountryKatie Allen, "Fifth time lucky for Raisin", The Bookseller, 6 April 2009.VikingWinnerAdam FouldsThe Broken WordCapeShortlistHenry HitchingsThe Secret Life of Words: How English Became EnglishJohn MurrayEdward HoganBlackmoorPocket2010No award made2011No award made2012No award made2013No award made2014No award made2015Sarah HoweLoop of JadeChatto & WindusWinnerSarah Waters, Andrew Holgate, Peter KempBen FergussonThe Spring of Kasper MeierLittle, BrownShortlistSunjeev SahotaThe Year of the RunawaysPicadorSara TaylorThe ShoreWilliam Heineman2016Max PorterGrief Is the Thing with FeathersFaber & FaberWinnerJames Naughtie, Stella Tillyard, Andrew HolgateJessie GreengrassAn Account of the Decline of the Great Auk According to One Who Saw ItJohn Murray PressShortlistAndrew McMillanPhysicalJonathan CapeBenjamin WoodThe EclipticSimon & Schuster2017Sally RooneyConversations with FriendsFaber & FaberWinnerElif Shafak, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Andrew HolgateMinoo DinshawOutlandish Knight: The Byzantine Life of Steven RuncimanPenguinShortlistClaire NorthThe End of the DayOrbitJulianne PachicoThe Lucky OnesFaber & FaberSara TaylorThe LaurasWindmill2018Adam WeymouthKings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River JourneyPenguinWinnerKamila Shamsie, Susan Hill, Andrew HolgateLaura FreemanThe Reading Cure: How Books Restored My AppetiteWeidenfeld & NicolsonShortlistImogen Hermes GowarThe Mermaid and Mrs HancockHarvill SeckerFiona MozleyElmetHodder & Stoughton2019Raymond AntrobusPenned in the MarginsWinnerKate Clanchy, Victoria Hislop, Andrew HolgateJulia ArmfieldSalt SlowPan MacmillanShortlistYara Rodrigues FowlerStubborn ArchivistFleetKim SherwoodTestamentriverrun2020Jay BernardSurgeChatto & WindusWinnerSebastian Faulks, Tessa Hadley, Andrew HolgateCatherine ChoInferno: A Memoir Bloomsbury PublishingShortlistNaoise DolanExciting TimesOrionSeán HewittTongues of Fire Miriam NashNightingaleBloodaxe Books2021Cal FlynIslands of AbandonmentWinnerTahmima Anam, Susan Hill, Andrew HolgateAnna BeecherHere Comes the MiracleWeidenfeld & NicolsonShortlistRachel LongMy Darling from the LionsPicadorCaleb Azumah NelsonOpen WaterVikingMegan NolanActs of DesperationPenguin Books 2022 Tom Benn Oxblood Bloomsbury PublishingWinnerStig Abell, Mona Arshi, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Anne Enright, Francis Spufford, Johanna Thomas-CorrLucy Burns Larger Than an Orange Penguin Books Shortlist Maddie Mortimer Maps of our Spectacular Bodies ScribnerKatherine Rundell Super-Infinite Macmillan 2023 Tom Crewe Simon & Schuster WinnerAnne Enright, Mendez, James McConnachie, Daljit Nagra, Johanna Thomas-Corr, Catriona WardMichael Magee Close to Home Farrar, Straus and Giroux Shortlist Noreen Masud Penguin Random HouseMomtaza Mehri Bad Diaspora Poems Penguin Books 2024 Harriet Baker Rural Hours Allen LaneWinnerClaire Adam, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Andrew Miller, Tomiwa Owolade, Johanna Thomas-Corr, Justin Webb Moses McKenzie Fast by the Horns WildfireShortlist Scott Preston John Murray Ralf Webb Strange Relations Sceptre2025Harry Shukman Year of the Rat Chatto & WindusWinnerCaleb Femi, Esther Freud, Graham Norton, Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sathnam Sanghera, Lea YpiBen BrooksScribnerShortlistGurnaik JohalSaraswatiSerpent’s TailLiadan Ní ChuinnEvery One Still HereGranta
No award was made in 2002, 2005 or 2006.Staff Writer."And the shortlist is...", The Sunday Times, 11 March 2007.The Society of Authors: The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year (past winners)
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