Posted on 19 February 2010
Michael Sheen at the last Dylan Thomas Prize Awards Ceremony
Some of the literary world’s most respected names will gather in Boston, Massachusetts, for the launch of the 2010 University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize on St David’s Day (March 1 2010).
Tessa Dahl, daughter of Roald, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, together with representatives from some of the world’s top Universities, including Harvard and MIT, will attend the launch of the Prize, which is named in honour of the famous Welsh writer and poet. The University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize has established itself as one of world‘s top prizes for young writers, with a cash award of £30,000, and the launch event cements its growing international presence as one of the world’s most respected literary prizes.
Professor Peter Stead, Chair of the Dylan Thomas Prize, said:
“The University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize has a global reach and focus, so we wanted to reaffirm its international status by launching the 2010 award overseas. We want the world to be aware of the Welsh interest in promoting new writing and the Dylan Thomas Prize provides a focus and inspiration for a whole new generation of writers throughout the English-speaking world.
“However, despite the global nature of the Prize we remain dedicated to our Welsh roots, and Dylan himself, and we will be holding a number of key events in Wales, including the announcement of the judging panel at the Hay Festival in June, and of course the announcement of the winner of the 2010 Prize in Swansea.
“The Prize honours one of the greatest and most youthful 20th century talents, so the bar is set very high. We are confident that this will be another great year.”
The Dylan Thomas Prize honours its finalists for published work in the broad range of literary forms in which Dylan Thomas excelled, including poetry, prose, fictional drama, short story collections, novels, novellas, stage plays and screenplays. The selected finalists who make the short list of this year’s competition will be invited to the UK to take part in a number of key Prize events, as well as participating in an educational outreach programme – DylanED - with schools, colleges and universities, co-driven by the Prize’s headline sponsor, the University of Wales.
Professor Marc Clement, Vice Chancellor of the University of Wales, said:
“The Dylan Thomas Prize is establishing itself as one of Wales’s great cultural assets. The Prize’s global reach and aspirations, its focus on youth and its emphasis on nurturing excellence are fully consistent with the goals of the University of Wales and we are proud to be its official Title Sponsor.
“The education programme DylanED is hugely important to the University of Wales. As an organisation that is dedicated to the development and education of young people, it is a perfect fit for us.”
Director of the Hay Festival, Peter Florence, will once again chair the judging panel, which will be announced in June. Entries for the Prize must be submitted by publisher, editor, literary agent, or in the case of film scripts and stage plays, the producer by 30th April 2010. Writers must be 18-30 years old, and the literary works must have been published within the past year to be eligible for competition.
For more information about the Dylan Thomas Prize, and for complete entry rules and guidelines, please visit www.dylanthomasprize.com
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To find out more about the University of Wales, please visit: www.wales.ac.uk/