Betty Trask Award · 2025 · Winner
Winter Animals
Ashani LewisFor its atmospheric, psychologically acute debut — a novel that blends literary suspense with precise social observation.
Betty Trask Award
2025 Winner
2025 Shortlist & Longlist
Shortlist
Complete History
About the Betty Trask Award
The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are annual literary prizes for debut novels by authors under the age of 35, administered by the Society of Authors. They were established through a bequest by Betty Trask, a popular romance novelist, who died in 1983 leaving her estate to the Society of Authors with the stipulation that the funds be used to reward first novels written by Commonwealth authors 'in a traditional or romantic style'. The prize consists of a single Betty Trask Prize of £10,000 for the best qualifying novel, with a number of smaller Betty Trask Awards for other outstanding works. The total prize fund is approximately £26,000 annually. The prize is administered annually by the Society of Authors and judged by an independent panel. It is open to debut novelists under 35 who are citizens of the Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland. Despite the 'traditional or romantic' criterion in Betty Trask's bequest, the prize has over the decades been awarded to a remarkably wide range of literary fiction, reflecting contemporary judges' broad interpretation of the terms. Past winners include Alex Garland's The Beach (1997), Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2001, Betty Trask Award), Kiran Desai's Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998), Nathan Filer's The Shock of the Fall (2014), Tom Crewe's The New Life (2024), and Ashani Lewis's Winter Animals (2025).
Frequently Asked Questions
- A UK literary prize for debut novels by Commonwealth or Irish authors under 35, administered by the Society of Authors. It was established through a bequest by romance novelist Betty Trask and has been awarded annually since 1984.
- First-time novelists under the age of 35 who are citizens of the United Kingdom, a Commonwealth country, or the Republic of Ireland. The novel must have been published in the UK during the preceding year.
- Betty Trask's bequest specified the prize be for works in 'a traditional or romantic style'. In practice, judges have interpreted this broadly, and the prize has been awarded to a wide range of literary fiction over the decades.
- The Betty Trask Prize winner receives £10,000. Additional Betty Trask Awards (smaller prizes) are given to other outstanding entries from the total annual fund of approximately £26,000.
- Yes, the Society of Authors publishes a shortlist before announcing the winner.
- Notable winners include Alex Garland for The Beach (1997), Kiran Desai for Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998), Nathan Filer for The Shock of the Fall (2014), Tom Crewe for The New Life (2024), and Ashani Lewis for Winter Animals (2025).
- Winners are announced in summer as part of the Society of Authors' annual awards ceremony.