FROM 2014 THE PRIZE WILL BE KNOWN AS ‘THE BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION’ AS PART OF AN EXCITING NEW PARTNERSHIP
London, Monday 3rd June 2013: The Women’s Prize for Fiction is delighted to announce a new partnership with BAILEYS, the world’s first cream liqueur. From 2014, the Women’s Prize for Fiction will be known as the ‘Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction’ as part of a three-year partnership announced today.
Kate Mosse, Chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction board, said, “We’re thrilled to be announcing that Baileys is the new title sponsor for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. We were delighted by the range of interest – and enjoyed meeting brands in various sectors – but in the end, the Women’s Prize for Fiction Board felt Baileys was the ideal choice as our new partners. We were impressed not only by the scale of their ambition, but also their passion for celebrating outstanding fiction by women and willingness to help in bringing the prize to ever wider audiences.”
Speaking about the partnership Syl Saller, Global Innovation Director, Diageo, said: “We are delighted to come together with a partner that shares our passion for celebrating inspirational, modern, spirited women, in a true meeting of minds, and we are very much looking forward to what the future holds.”
“The Prize has really established itself within the world of literary culture as a wonderful platform for female talent and with this partnership we are committed to celebrating spirited women and their stories, which inspire and enrich lives around the world,” Syl Saller continued.
Kate Mosse continued: “This new partnership marks the beginning of a fantastic new chapter for the Prize. It’s time now to focus on the exceptional 2013 shortlisted titles and the awards ceremony itself. We will be revealing a full programme of new activity with Baileys and our joint plans for the Prize for 2014 and beyond in the Autumn.”
The Women’s Prize for Fiction is awarded for the best novel of the year written by a woman of any nationality in the English language. Currently in its eighteenth year, the Women’s Prize for Fiction was set up to celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women throughout the world.
Widely acknowledged to have transformed the literary landscape and to have played a major role in introducing international writing by women to new audiences worldwide, the Women’s Prize for Fiction was founded in 1996 by a group of senior figures in the publishing industry. The aim was to celebrate and promote the very best of international fiction written by women throughout the world to the widest range of male and female readers possible and to fund a range of educational, literacy and research initiatives.
Known from 1996 to 2012 as the Orange Prize for Fiction, it is the UK’s most prestigious annual book award for fiction written by a woman.
The Prize has been privately supported for 2013. Funding has been provided in the form of gifts from companies and individual donors including Bilbary, The Book People, Bob & Co, Cherie Blair, Fanny Blake, Bloomberg, Richard & Elena Bridges, Elizabeth Buchan, Christopher Foyle, Jill Green, Martha Lane Fox CBE, Lansons Communications, Joanna Trollope OBE, Sue Woodford-Hollick and others who wish to remain anonymous.
Kate Mosse added: “The Board of the Women’s Prize for Fiction is hugely grateful to our partners and to the individual donors and companies who have supported the WPF 2013 and made it possible. Thanks to their generosity, we were in the position to secure the Prize’s long term future.”
The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013 is awarded annually for the best full novel of the year written by a woman and published in the UK. Any woman writing in English – whatever her nationality, country of residence, age or subject matter – is eligible.
The winner receives a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze figurine known as a ‘Bessie’, created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven. Both are anonymously endowed.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013 will be awarded on June 5th at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London.
The shortlist for the 2013 Women’s Prize is Kate Atkinson for Life After Life (Doubleday), A.M. Homes for May We Be Forgiven (Granta), Barbara Kingsolver for Flight Behaviour (Faber & Faber), Hilary Mantel for Bring Up the Bodies (Fourth Estate), Maria Semple for Where’d You Go Bernadette (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) and Zadie Smith for NW (Hamish Hamilton).
The judges for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction are Miranda Richardson, (Chair), Actor, Razia Iqbal, BBC Broadcaster and Journalist, Rachel Johnson, Author, Editor and Journalist, Jojo Moyes, Author and Natasha Walter, Feminist Writer and Human Rights Activist.
Previous winners include Madeline Miller for The Song of Achilles (2012), Téa Obreht for The Tiger’s Wife (2011), Barbara Kingsolver for The Lacuna (2010), Marilynne Robinson for Home (2009), Rose Tremain for The Road Home (2008), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Half of a Yellow Sun (2007), Zadie Smith for On Beauty (2006), Lionel Shriver for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2005), Andrea Levy for Small Island (2004), Valerie Martin for Property (2003), Ann Patchett for Bel Canto (2002), Kate Grenville for The Idea of Perfection (2001), Linda Grant for When I Lived in Modern Times (2000), Suzanne Berne for A Crime in the Neighbourhood (1999), Carol Shields for Larry’s Party (1998), Anne Michaels for Fugitive Pieces (1997), and Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter (1996).
-ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITORS
Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013
About BAILEYS
The BAILEYS word and associated logos are trademarks.
BAILEYS was the world’s first cream liqueur, a unique blend of smooth Irish cream with quality spirits and whiskey. It has won more medals than any of its competitors in the prestigious San Francisco world spirits awards and is the 2012 Gold Winner. It’s also the world’s biggest seller, with over 82 million bottles sold world wide each year. Every minute of every day over 2000 people around the world are enjoying a BAILEYS.
This exciting new partnership with the Women’s Prize for Fiction follows the launch of BAILEYS’ renewed commitment to celebrating the spirit of modern womanhood, which was brought to life through the visually spectacular ‘CREAM WITH SPIRIT™’ marketing campaign, and the unveiling of a stylish new bottle design earlier this year. BAILEYS wants to inspire and enrich the lives of women, bringing the power of spirited stories and storytellers to ever-wider audiences.
About Diageo:
Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business. With its global vision, and local marketing focus, Diageo brings to consumers an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across the spirits, wine and beer categories including Smirnoff, Guinness, Johnnie Walker, BAILEYS, J&B, Captain Morgan and Tanqueray, and Beaulieu Vineyard and Sterling Vineyards wines. Diageo trades in some 180 countries around the world and is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people, brands and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com.
Diageo is committed to responsible drinking through: setting world-class standards in responsible marketing, promotion and innovation; promoting a shared understanding of what responsible drinking means, and working with others to combat alcohol misuse.
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