Awarded for the best piece of writing on the topic of ‘Identity’ – the theme of the 2019 Alpine Fellowship Annual Symposium. The winner and two runners up are invited to attend the Fjällnäs symposium. Winner receives £10,000 cash prize and is presented with the award by the poet John Burnside. £3000 go to the second place, £2000 to the third place.

Rules: Open to all nationalities, aged 18 and above. All genres permitted. A maximum of 2500 words per entry. Limited to one entry per person. Text must not have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online, or have won or been placed in another competition at any time. Entries are entirely anonymous and therefore judging is unbiased. Submissions open January 16th, close April 1st and will be reviewed by head judge John Burnside, as well as Katherine Rundell and Gillian Clarke. A longlist of 100 entries will be released on May 15th, followed by a shortlist of 25 on June 1st, and the winners on the 15th of June.

‘I’m interested in writing that combines imagination and craft to create something that need not be highly ‘polished’, but which shows an artisan’s humility alongside that spontaneous engagement with the work of making that rests securely upon the awareness of what Ezra Pound called ‘a live tradition’ – not as a set of limits, but as an invitation to explore, to make new and, most of all, to extend the musical possibilities of language.’ John Burnside.