Bernardine Evaristo Awarded £100,000 Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution

Bernardine Evaristo has been honored with the Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award, a one-off prize celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, accompanied by £100,000 and a sculpture. Evaristo, the first Black woman to win the Booker Prize in 2019 for "Girl, Woman, Other," was recognized for her transformative impact on literature and her dedication to uplifting underrepresented voices, particularly women writers. She has had a distinguished career spanning over four decades, including co-founding Britain's first Black women's theatre company and leading initiatives such as the Brunel International African Poetry Prize. Evaristo plans to use the prize money to support other female writers, emphasizing the importance of mutual support among women in the arts. The award panel, chaired by Women’s Prize founder Kate Mosse, highlighted Evaristo's inventive body of work and her advocacy for diversity and inclusion in the literary landscape. The award will be presented at a ceremony in London alongside the 2025 Women’s Prizes for Fiction and Non-Fiction winners.