Comedy Women in Print prize returns | Entries now open for 2020 © Matt Crockett

Comedy Women in Print prize returns

Entries now open for 2020

The Comedy Women in Print prize is returning for a second year.

Spearheaded by Helen Lederer and with novelist Marian Keyes heading the judging panel, the 2020 competition has today opened for entries.

And as well as the awards for published and unpublished authors, a new category has been added for graphic novels.

The published winner will receive a cash prize of £3,000 from the Author’s Licensing and Collecting Society. 

In the unpublished category, the winner will receive a publishing contract and a £5,000 advance from HarperFiction, while the runner-up receives £2,000 from the University of Hertfordshire and mentoring from the MA course in creative writing. The second runner-up will receive a place on the online MA in comedy from the University of Falmouth.

The cash prize in the graphic novel category has yet to be announced. 

Lederer said: ‘The support and interest in CWIP has been overwhelming - and proof that this prize had to happen.

‘The testimonials from the authors lifted my spirits. Witty writers have really progressed because of the prize and in so many different ways – in fact, the support for each other via CWIP has been a revelation. 

‘For our second year we decided to go large and include a "published humorous graphic novel" category as well – this is in association with LDComics so we can both shine a light on women’s wit in this important arena together.’

The inaugural 2019 awards were won by Laura Stevens’ The Exact Opposite of Okay in the published novel category, and Kirsty Eyre’s Cow Girl in the unpublished novel category – with international bestseller Jilly Cooper given a lifetime achievement award.

The closing date for all awards is Monday March 2, 2020, with the shortlists announced on June 1 and the winners announced the following month. Enter here.

Published: 25 Oct 2019

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