The Award

• A prize of £10,000 will be awarded to the author of the work that the judges consider to be the best second novel of the year. Each shortlisted author who does not go on to win the overall Award will also receive a cash prize.
• The judges will be responsible for compiling a shortlist of outstanding books. This will be announced in summer 2024 and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.
• The Award is administered in all respects by the Royal Society of Literature.

Eligible Books

• The Award is open any published second novel, which must be a full-length work of fiction.
• The writer must have been resident in the United Kingdom (UK) or the Republic of Ireland (RoI) for the past three years.
• All entries must be published (in any format) for the first time in the UK or RoI within the calendar year 2023.
• Books originally written in another language, and translated into English, are not eligible.
• Novellas or children’s books are ineligible.
• Books published with vanity publishers are not eligible.
• A book submitted on behalf of an author who was deceased at the date of publication will not be eligible for consideration.

Entry of Books

• Fill out all the details on the entry form. Submissions will only be accepted from trade publishers based in the UK or RoI, or authors who meet eligibility criteria above and have been published by a publisher based in the UK or RoI. Publishers may submit multiple eligible titles. The publisher must be in the UK or RoI, regardless of the author’s citizenship or residency.
• Three copies of each book should be sent to:
  Encore Award
  Royal Society of Literature
  Somerset House
  London
  WC2R 1LA
  Books must not be sent direct to the judges and no books submitted can be returned.
• If you have a digital copy of the book, please upload this as an epub file when filling out the entry form. There should be no watermarks or crop marks, and we ask that the cover and copyright page are included.

The deadline for entries is Friday 12 January 2024.

The RSL is committed to equality of opportunity and welcomes submissions from people of all backgrounds and experiences. To give us insights into who is being entered, we would appreciate it if people could complete an Equality and Diversity Monitoring Survey for the author. A link will be provided in your confirmation email. The information provided here will be treated in the strictest confidence and not linked to entries.