The IW Book Awards are back for 2024 and applications for entries are now open.

Founder Hunter Davies is judging the fiction books category, while Alan Titchmarsh will oversee the non-fiction entries.

This year, they are joined by children’s judge, Anne McNeil, whose 40 year career has seen her working as editor and agent for some the country’s most popular authors of children’s fiction.
The winner of each category will receive a £200 prize. An additional £500 will be awarded to the overall winner of the Book of the Year award.

Here is how to enter the Isle of Wight Book Awards 2024

To enter the Isle of Wight Book Awards 2024, fill in the form on the website, HERE, then drop in four copies of your finished publication to one of four drop-off points:

  • Medina bookshop in Cowes
  • Monkton Arts in Ryde
  • Mrs Middleton’s Bookshop in Freshwater
  • Babushka Books in Shanklin

Entries are free and close on May 31. 

Anyone who was published (self-published or professionally) during 2023 can enter. 

The only conditions are that the book must have a physical form (no digital-only publications) and there has to be some element of IW content.

The awards are timed to coincide with the annual IW Literary Festival and a prize-giving lunch will be held on October 1 at the Island Sailing Club, marking the opening of the festival.