Bodley Head/Financial Times Essay Prize

The Bodley Head/Financial Times Essay Prize aims to discover young talent from around the world in long-form essay writing, and has led to many new and exciting opportunities for winners and runners-up. It invites anyone in the world aged 18-35 years to submit a dynamic, authoritative and lively essay in English no longer than 3,500 words on any subject.

Hedley Twidle, winner of the very first prize, is now a regular contributor to the FT and other outlets including the New Statesman. Adnan Sarwar, 2013’s winner, has written widely for the press in the UK. Edward Posnett won in 2014 for his essay ‘Eiderdown’ and has his first book, Harvest, due for publication with The Bodley Head in 2017. Last year’s winner, Laurence Blair, has also recently been signed up by The Bodley Head to write his first book, which expands on his 2015 prize-winning essay ‘Dreams of the sea’.

The competition is open to anyone between 18-35 years old who would like their work to be read and judged by author Simon Schama, Stuart Williams (publishing director, The Bodley Head), Rachel Cugnoni (publisher, Vintage), Alec Russell, (editor, FT Weekend), Rebecca Rose (deputy books editor, FT) and literary agent Georgina Capel of Georgina Capel Associates.

The judges are looking for a dynamic, authoritative and lively essay of no more than 3,500 words. It can be journalistic, a case study, wide-ranging or minutely focused. In keeping with the ethos of both sponsors, it can address any topic – from finance and current affairs to history and scientific discovery.

“FT Weekend is immensely proud of its sponsorship of the essay prize,” says Alec Russell, editor of FT Weekend. “The essay and long-form journalism more broadly have happily defied many doom-laden predictions and are flourishing in digital forms. But in an age of ‘churnalism’ and ‘post-fact’ politics the quest for finding and nurturing new writers is all the more important.”

The winner will receive: