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History of the Bridport Prize
The Bridport Prize International Creative Writing Competition was founded in 1973 and has steadily grown in stature and prestige. Right from the start the competition attracted entries from all parts of the UK and from overseas. Today many thousands of entries are received from over 80 countries.
The prize money and entry fees have risen over the years as well and now the first prize in each category is £5,000, second prize £1,000 and third prize £500. An additional 10 supplementary prizes (for each category) of £50 each are awarded. The entry fee for the year 2008 is £6 per poem or story. The top four poems are entered for the Forward Prize for Poetry (Best Single Poem), an award not open to the general public. The top 13 stories (British citizens only) are submitted to the National Short Story Prize.
The Dorset Award is a new prize (first awarded in 2007) specifically for Dorset writers. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Frampton's of Bridport, £100 is to be won for the highest placed Dorset writer in the Bridport Prize each year.
In 2001 the Bridport Prize became the first competition to offer writers the opportunity to submit their entry online, receiving 865 entries that year. 2007 saw 4,822 entries downloaded from its website - 40%? of which were from overseas.
In 2006 Fay Weldon agreed to become Patron of the Bridport and notable previous judges include Margaret Drabble, Jo Shapcott, Rose Tremain, U A Fanthorpe, Andrew Motion, Lavinia Greenlaw and Jane Gardam. (past judges)
In many cases a win in the Bridport Prize has led to further successes success stories and helped to launch new writers. Kate Atkinson (a short story winner in 1990) said that it was very important, confirming that she had found her "voice". Her short story went on to become the first chapter of her novel, "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", winner of the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year. She returned to judge the Short Story section in 2001.
Other noteworthy names include Helen Dunmore (also a 1990 winner) whose "Spell of Winter" won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996; Tobias Hill, a winner in both categories (poetry 1994, short story 1996) and Tess Biddington, a winner in 2000, who made it onto the short list for The Forward Prize and gained an agent for her forthcoming novel, plus many others.
 | The Bridport Prize is a fundraiser for Bridport Arts Centre, charity no 1069780 |