In 2025, RSL President Emerita Bernardine Evaristo received the Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award, supported by Bukhman Philanthropies. She generously donated her £100,000 cash prize to found the RSL Pioneer Prize. The RSL Pioneer Prize, which will run for 10 years from its inaugural year, celebrates pioneering British women writers – across all genres – who have been trailblazers in their field in the past.

Following the success of the prize in its inaugural year, the RSL Pioneer Prize has now received additional funding from Bukhman Philanthropies, who have generously elected to match Evaristo’s donation of £100,000 to support the legacy of the prize and its recipients.

Each winner will be asked to spotlight one deceased and overlooked woman writer who inspired them when they were starting out, as well as three younger and emerging women writers of today. These writers will be celebrated alongside the winner.

Daria Bukhman, Co-Founder and Chair of Bukhman Philanthropies, said: “When Bernardine chose to donate her entire prize to celebrate the women writers who came before her, it was one of the most generous and instinctive acts of literary leadership I’ve seen. We are proud to match her gift and help ensure that the RSL Pioneer Prize can honour trailblazing women writers for the next decade. These are voices that shaped the landscape for everyone who followed and they deserve to be remembered and celebrated while we still can.”

This year’s prize, which will seek to celebrate the work of a pioneer in the genre of poetry, will be judged by a panel of three literature professionals. Chair of judges Ruth Borthwick, current Chair of English PEN and formerly Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Arvon, is joined by poet, academic and editor Sarah Howe alongside Judith Palmer, Director of the Poetry Society since 2008 and RSL Benson Medallist.

“We are in the business of finding a new generation of readers and cementing the legacy of a trailblazing poet,” said Pioneer Prize judge Sarah Howe, “and in celebrating the power and impact of the work, the reach and the space-making.”