The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

Honouring the achievements of the founding father of the historical novel, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is one of the UK’s most prestigious literary prizes. The winner receives £25,000 and shortlisted authors each receive £1,500.  Since it was founded sixteen years ago by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, the Prize has awarded over £400,000 to writers and brought over 160 great novels to wider public attention.

The Walter Scott Prize celebrates quality of writing in the English language, and is open to novels published in the previous year in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. Reflecting the subtitle ‘Tis Sixty Years Since’ of Scott’s famous work Waverley, the majority of the storyline must be set at least 60 years ago.

The Prize is now managed by The Abbotsford Trust, the independent Scottish Charity responsible for Sir Walter Scott’s extraordinary Borders home, and is supported by Hawthornden Foundation and the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust.

The winner of the 2024 Walter Scott Prize was announced at the Borders Book Festival on June 13th – you can find out all about the winner and the five shortlisted books here.  The 2025 Prize has now closed for submissions from publishers, and is currently preparing for judging.  You can find a Prize timetable and the Rules and Conditions here , and more about the Prize’s history and Reading Group guides for each of our winners on our Resources page.

The WSP judging panel is chaired by Katie Grant, and has recently welcomed two new judges, Rosamund de la Hey and Rosi Byard-Jones, who join James Holloway, Elizabeth Laird, James Naughtie, and Saira Shah as judges for the 2025 Prize.  Rosamund and Rosi replace longstanding judges Kirsty Wark and the late Duchess of Buccleuch.

The Young Walter Scott Prize

The Young Walter Scott Prize is the UK’s only creative writing prize dedicated to historical fiction.  This annual story-writing competition is for young people aged between 11 and 19, and prizes include a £500 travel grant, an invitation to one of the UK’s best book festivals, and the opportunity to see your work in print in a special anthology.  This year’s competition closed on 31st October 2024, but the Rules and information on how to enter are available here, and the key dates for the 2025 Prize are listed here.

You can meet the 2024 winners and shortlisters and read their stories by clicking on the links. Printed anthologies of the winning stories are available free by contacting us with your postal address.

The YWSP also runs the Imagining History workshops, in which you can learn how to write historical fiction in amazing spaces throughout the UK, and online.  Find out more about Imagining History UK here.