PRESS: ‘THE PAPERBACK PRIZE’ – 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING

A letter to all friends of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, whether you're an author, agent or publisher, a librarian, volunteer, reader or bookseller. We're looking forward to all that the next ten years will bring. 

Dear Adventurers, 

In 2026, we will award the tenth Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. Over the past nine years the Prize has evolved and now focuses on readers as much as writers, and we’re committed to both – after all, writers are the start and readers the end of every book’s journey.

Each year, the Prize celebrates a shortlist comprising, ‘An Adventure for Everyone’. We want to demonstrate that dedication to ‘everyone’, and have been considering what it means beyond the content of the fantastic novels we work with.

The New Voices and Author of Tomorrow awards will continue as they are but, to mark this milestone, the £10,000 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize will now support the best adventure novels from the point they’re published in paperback. 

“Why?”, we hear you ask. In our opinion, a paperback book is more accessible and more affordable to all readers – whether they are library-users or the book buying public. As a charity, our mission is to support writers, promote literacy and advance adventure writing as a genre, and we believe this small change has the chance to make a big impact over our next ten years. 

Readers, we still want to bring you your next great adventure. We know this sometimes means taking a chance on an author you’re yet to encounter. The UK is in a cost-of-living crisis, but for those who do have a little to spend on the luxury of a new book, we want it to be as affordable as possible. If you’re already a long-standing devotee of one of our shortlisted authors, or a hardback collector, then by all means - please support them and buy that hardback edition. But for others, we want that wonder of discovery to be as affordable as possible. 

Bookshops, we both want to get more copies of fantastic books into readers’ hands. We want to make stocking, displaying and selling the best adventure fiction easier for you: a shortlist of books in one format, and not vying for limited hardback space. Together, we can introduce new readers to these books who could go on to support the authors throughout their careers and through their backlist. 

We’re offering 100 bookshops across the UK free point of sale materials for the 2026 Prize shortlist, just as we do for 100 libraries. You can register your interest here and we will send you news of the shortlist and the physical materials over the summer – when the desire for adventure is at its highest!

Authors and publishers, your books are magnificent. You are writing and publishing novels that transport us. They deserve to be found by new readers and we will work to support sales throughout their publication journey. 

Libraries, you and your wonderful staff have been on this journey with us for six years already. We’ve heard you tell us that budgets are tight and that having a full shortlist in paperback will help you stock the whole list, and more copies of each book. We know your communities are eager readers and we want to ensure copies of the books are available for them.

Currently, almost half of books on our shortlists are already released in paperback by the time we work with them. Working with all of them in paperback will make the Prize more accessible as a whole, widening the ‘everyone’ in ‘An Adventure for Everyone’ in more than just taste. 

We will continue to make donations of books to other valued causes, as well as supplying copies of books to selected book clubs. If you are responsible for submitting books to the Prize, we are looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us. You can read the full Terms & Conditions and submit your entries here.

The best 10th birthday present we could have asked for is a community of readers, and as we look towards the next ten years, we’re excited to see that community grow. 

Thank you for being part of the journey – an adventure is always better with a friend by your side.

Yours,

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize Team