Would you like to help us choose the winner of the SI Leeds Literary Prize SI Readers’ Choice?
We’re looking for enthusiastic readers to join us in judging the 2022 prize, which is awarded to unpublished fiction written by UK-based Black and Asian women. The SI Leeds Literary Prize is awarded biennially and is now in its sixth edition. Alongside the main prize, which is awarded by a team of judges, we also award an SI Readers’ Choice to the favourite shortlisted entry, chosen by a volunteer reading team.
This year, we’re looking for new volunteer readers to select their favourite from our shortlist of six manuscripts.
This additional award is seen by the industry as a valuable indication of the views of readers, rather than professional judges, and feedback by readers is extremely helpful to the shortlisted writers, whose unpublished manuscripts may not have been read by many people. Previous winners of the SI Readers’ Choice award include Kit de Waal, who won the award 2014 for Blue in Green, and whose My Name is Leon has recently been dramatised for BBC1 with a cast including Lenny Henry.
What is involved?
Participating readers will be emailed the six shortlisted manuscripts during the last week of August and will be asked to vote for their preferred choice by early October. As manuscripts are unpublished, all reading happens electronically, either via a Kindle, tablet or computer. This means a lot of reading but you don’t need to read each manuscript from start to finish. The SI Readers’ Choice is there to reward the book that most engaged you.
How to sign up
If you would like to join our readers, please email us at audience@sileedsliteraryprize.com by Wednesday 24 August and we will be in touch with details.
