If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a writer but not had the access or confidence to pursue it, we’re about to make your day. To find the next group of exciting new voices, we are launching The Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction alongside our Literary Festival. We want to find original, innovative female talent, whose voices resonate with us and make sense of the world around us, regardless of genre or experience or age. To create this prize, we are partnering with Rachel Mills Literary Agency (RML) whose clients include Elizabeth Day, Pandora Sykes, Jing-Jing Lee, Ayisha Malik and Bryony Gordon.

It has been a year of feeling powerless; our world has become narrower, our choices more limited. And yet, our words and the power of our voice has never been more important. Women have always had to be resilient in societies which overlooked them, undervalued them and increasingly disenfranchised them. But even as we have found ourselves removed from the world, we have always found a way to vocalise and challenge our place within it. 

Our words are our power. How many of us found comfort, clarity and even inspiration in books during the lockdowns of the last year? Who rediscovered teenage love through Normal People? Who thought about what it means to be a woman in Girl, Woman, Other? Or raged at the injustices in Such A Fun Age?

Words unite us, and ultimately, they define us and the world around us. Women have a legacy of producing some of the best and most-beloved works of fiction in history; works that document the world around them and have been instruments for change.

If you’ve ever had an idea for a story but have been unsure as to whether it was worth pursuing, this is for the prize for you.

We want to see your perspective and hear what you have to say by offering you this unique opportunity, whether it has been a lifelong vision or a recent ambition. 

How to enter? Please note entries are now closed.

Entrants need to supply a full story outline and either first three chapters or 50 pages. Submissions need to have title and author clearly on each page and be numbered. They should also be 1.5 spaced.

When is the deadline for entering?

The last day to submit your entry is Monday 5 July. 

Who are the judges?

Our judges will be Katy Loftus, publisher at Viking whose authors include Richard Osman, Cara Hunter and Tana French; Sara Collins the Costa Winning debut author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton; Nelle Andrew from RML who recently won Literary Agent of the Year 2021 award at the British Book Awards and Lisa Smosarski, editor-in-chief of Stylist Magazine.

When is the winner announced?

The winner will be announced during Stylist Live this November.

We will share a longlist and shortlist ahead of the winner announcement.

Is there a prize?

The winner will receive £1,000 plus a guaranteed offer of representation from Rachel Mills Literary.

Those shortlisted will receive an hour of private editorial consultancy on their work as well as an introduction to how to submit to an agent. 

Terms and Conditions:

Entrants must be either a current UK or Irish resident (and continue to be so until the end of the year).

Entrants must be 18 and over and must be female or identify as such.

Entrants must not have been published, either via print or ebook in long form or as a series of short stories or as a children’s author.

For the avoidance of doubt, being published as a single entry in a short story anthology does not count, nor does journalism or magazines.

Entrants must not have a publishing contract or be under offer of a publishing contract during the duration of the prize and if they do they must inform us during the process as their entry will have to be withdrawn immediately.

Entrants must not already have representation under another agent for their writing.