We are delighted to finally reveal the full judging panel for The Green Carnation Prize 2013. The judges are Christopher Bryant, editor of Polari Magazine; Sarah Henshaw, barge based bookseller and writer; Kerry Hudson, author and Clayton Littlewood, journalist and author. The judges will be chaired by Uli Lenart, bookseller and Events, Press and Online Development Manager at Gay’s the Word.

The prize is now open for submissions, which this year have changed to ‘catch some of the books we noticed missed due to proofs not being available at the end of previous submission guideline dates’ said Simon Savidge, Honorary Director of the prize, ‘though alas longlisted titles that fall into the new submission dates will not be eligible.’ The new dates are books published, for the first time in the UK, between September the 31^st 2012 and October the 1^st 2013. For more information on the submission details you can visit their dedicated page here, for more information on the judging panel for 2012 you can visit the ‘Judges 2013’ page here.

So the Green Carnation Prize 2013 is now officially open.

Simon Savidge, co-founder and Honorary Director of the prize, said ‘I think this year will see the prize turn itself up a notch, it’s going to be more interactive, theres going to be more events and I am looking forward to watching it all unfold.’ This year will be the first year Simon leaves the judging panel, which he has been on for the last three years ‘I wanted to take more of a behind the scenes role, the prize needs sponsorship and this year my role is to get that sorted and I have some exciting meetings planned ahead. I also didn’t want the prize to look like a vanity project, though now I know who all the judges are I am slightly kicking myself I won’t be joining in with them. I will just have to read-a-long and join in at the judges meetings anyway, ha. Seriously though, I also want to look at how the prize can bring LGBT literature from before the prize was thought of to the fore and see how the history and heritage of LGBT writing of all kinds can be celebrated and enjoyed again. It is all exciting stuff.’

Monday the 25^th of February will see the official launch of the prize announcing the five all new judges and all new submission guidelines. Watch out for more details then…

Patrick Gale’s ‘A Perfectly Good Man’ is his sixteenth novel, a story of the moral dilemmas of a Cornish priest and his family and looks at what makes people good or bad. André Carl Van Der Merwe’s debut novel ‘Moffie’ is a tale of coming out in South Africa in the military during some of the country’s most turbulent times.

Chair of the judges Rodney Troubridge said “I’m glad to see two novels win the Green Carnation Prize… from a much loved author, Patrick Gale, a challenging tale of moral choices and a visceral debut of love and prejudice from South Africa…” Fellow judges Katie Allen, website editor of The Bookseller and We Love This Book said “”It was really exciting to be part of a judging panel where we loved the books so much we had to declare a tie. These are very different books, but both true winners in different ways – Gale’s novel is a masterpiece of characterisation and plotting, while Moffie reveals the often devastating consequences of being gay- reverberations of which can still be felt across the world today.” Dom Agius, photographer and DJ, said “The winning titles shared one thing more than any other, repeated reads revealed ever more. The decision to tie the 2012 prize says everything about this year’s submissions. No so much a coalition compromise, just a wealth of really great books.”

Last year’s winner Catherine Hall was delighted to pass the award over two both winners “Two such very different books, one a debut, the other a sixteenth novel. A coming out story about the horrors of the South African army and an exploration of the moral dilemmas of a Cornish priest and his family. Both beautifully written and utterly gripping – which is why I’m delighted they’re this year’s winners of The Green Carnation prize.”  Co-founder and Honorary Director of the prize, journalist and blogger Simon Savidge, said he adored the winners and also wanted to praise the runners up “It has been a fantastic standard of writing this year, showing just how important this prize, which some people may say is niche, is not just to LGBT people but to readers in general. Our joint winners are utterly fantastic books and so were all the shortlisted books. Edmund White has written his written what I think will be looked at as one of his finest books, Philip Hensher does something unique in writing with his fictionalisation of his partners memoirs, Carol Anshaw makes a gripping an compelling novel about the ripples of things we have done in the past and Kerry Hudson has written one of the most promising debuts we have read in some time, its human, funny, heartbreaking and current.”

About The Prize

The Green Carnation Prize got off to a great start in 2010 as an award that celebrated the best fiction and memoirs by gay men. It provoked debate, produced an intriguing shortlist and chose a worthy winner in Christopher Fowler’s Paperboy. In 2011 the prize came back even bigger and better opening its doors to all LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) writers. It was won by Catherine Hall for her second novel ‘The Proof of Love’.

The Green Carnation Prize will be back for 2013 with judges, submission guidelines and dates in January 2013.

We are sorry to announce that the winner of the Green Carnation Prize for fiction, which should have been unveiled today, has been postponed. This is simply due to the fact that so far, with such a wonderful selection of shortlisted books, the judges have been in the almost too lucky position of having six brilliant novels to choose from and as yet cannot come to a final decision. They have asked for another five days in which to keep discussing and debating this wonderful selection which it is currently too tight to choose between and they sadly can’t give the prize to all the titles listed. The winner of the Green Carnation Prize 2012 will now be announced on Tuesday the 18^th of December at 9:00.

In the meantime you can read some bloggers thoughts on the shortlist via their Green Carnation Prize Reading Project 2012, we are thrilled to bits to have a shadow jury! You can see some of their reviews here, here, here, here and here.

Yours sincerely,

The Green Carnation Team.

Chair of the judges for 2012, Rodney Troubridge said “Shortlists like longlists are never easy but I feel that we’ve reached a happy consensus and one we all feel completely justifies the criteria of the prize.” Honorary Director and Co-founder of the Prize, Simon Savidge, who returned to judge for the third year said “This year was the hardest shortlisting discussion I have been a part of so far with the Green Carnation, I think it is down to the fact that we had an absolutely incredible longlist and what is exciting, and will also make this year all the tougher, is that we still have no idea who might win. These six books are all incredible.”

• Carry The One – Carol Anshaw (Penguin Books, American, 4^th novel)
• A Perfectly Good Man – Patrick Gale (4^th Estate, British, 16^th novel)
• Scenes from Early Life – Philip Hensher (4^th Estate, British, 8^th novel)
• Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice Cream Before He Stole Me Ma – Kerry Hudson (Chatto & Windus, British, debut novel)
• Moffie – Andre Carl Van Der Merwe (Europa Editions, South African, debut novel)
• Jack Holmes and his Friend – Edmund White (Bloomsbury, American, 10^th novel)

Last year’s winner Catherine Hall, who became a judge this year, revealed “I never knew how hard it was to get from a longlist to a shortlist – it’s a testament to how fantastic all the titles on the longlist were. Our final shortlist includes a couple of old masters and some lesser known voices, featuring stories from South Africa to New York to Bangladesh via a Glasgow tenement and a Cornish vicarage – they’re all incredibly exciting and it’s going to be terribly difficult to pick a winner.”

Fellow judges Dom Agius, photographer and DJ, said “Can you have too many good books to choose from?  It feels like we did and do still. What an unexpected luxury. I can pay all the longlisted authors no higher praise, that was incredibly hard.” Katie Allen, Web Editor of The Bookseller said “Judges of literary prizes always stay that cutting the longlist to the shortlist is hard, but it really really was in our case. Some great books didn’t quite make it through, but I’m really pleased with the shortlist we have. I hope it encourages people to pick up some new books to read.”

The winning title which will be announced on December the 12^th 2012.

• Carry The One – Carol Anshaw (Penguin)
• Are You My Mother? – Alison Bechdel (Jonathan Cape)
• Ninety Days – Bill Clegg (Jonathan Cape)
• The Purple Shroud – Stella Duffy (Virago)
• Absolution – Patrick Flanery (Atlantic Books)
• A Perfectly Good Man – Patrick Gale (4^th Estate)
• Scenes From An Early Life – Philip Hensher (4^th Estate)
• Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice Cream Before He Stole Me Ma – Kerry Hudson (Chatto & Windus)
• Snake Ropes – Jess Richards (Sceptre)
• Hawthorn & Child – Keith Ridgway (Granta Books)
• Valentine Grey – Sandi Toksvig (Virago)
• Moffie – Andre Carl Van Der Merwe (Europa Editions)
• Jack Holmes and his Friend – Edmund White (Bloomsbury)

Chair of the judges, Rodney Troubridge, bookseller extraordinaire, who has been in the industry for over twenty years, said “From an intimidating number of submitted books it was a satisfactory feeling to discuss them all and produce a long list we all feel proud of. Now for the next stage…” Fellow judge, and Green Carnation Prize Honorary Director, Simon Savidge who has returned for his third year of judging said “Every year I think experience will make it easier to judge each year, yet with the amount of submissions and with such wonderfully varying books, showing how diverse LGBT writing is, it gets more and more difficult. I do think this year’s longlist is another exceptionally exciting list of books from contemporary novels to historical, graphic novels and fictionalized memoirs though all have themes of confrontation whether its war, family, good vs. bad and even confrontation with ourselves.”

The awards previous winner last year Catherine Hall, who has joined the judging panel this year agreed with its diversity. “Getting to long-list stage of the Green Carnation has been a real delight. The submissions were of such a high standard that they were a joy to read. I hope our long-list reflects their sheer diversity, ranging from the viciousness of life in the South African army to the dilemmas of a country priest in Cornwall, via a 70s Bengali childhood and crack addiction in New York. It’s going to be hard to narrow them down to a shortlist.”

Her thoughts were echoed by two of her fellow judges. Photographer and DJ Dom Agius, said ”Despite some initial nerves at the incredibly high standard of entries, the judges’ final longlist selection was almost totally unified. These thirteen hopefully represent a broad & vivid cross section, not only of contemporary Gay & Lesbian literature but of the modern human condition full stop.” Katie Allen, web editor of The Bookseller and We Love This Book and the judging panels ‘straight eye’, said “Choosing from the many submissions to the Green Carnation Prize to thirteen has been a real struggle. We made plenty of unanimous choices, but also plenty we all debated heavily too. There are some real gems in there and it will be tricky to reduce the list even further…”

It looks like the next meeting for the short list, which will be announced on November the 7th 2012, could be quite the debate.

For more information, interviews with the judges or  a media pack email greencarnationprize@gmail.com

Rodney said, of chairing the prize in its third year, ‘I think this is a brave and interesting prize and am looking forward to reading what I hope will be some challenging writing that with luck will appeal to as many readers as possible.’ Catherine Hall, who won the prize last year, said she was ‘delighted’ to be a judge. Simon Savidge, who co-founded the prize in 2010 and now acts as its Honorary Director, is returning to judge for his third year and said ‘I can’t wait to see what 2012 holds in terms of the new judging panel, some exciting projects in and around the prize over the next few months and most importantly this years submitted books’.

The prize is now open for submissions of any novel published between January the 1^st and December the 31^st 2012 in hardback or paperback for the first time in the UK. The longlist of up to twelve books will be announced on Monday the 1st of October 2012.

For more information on the judging panel for 2012 you can visit the ‘Judges 2012’ page here.

Simon Savidge, a fellow co-founder of the prize, said “After a wonderful two years both Paul and Nick decided, earlier in the year, that with other exciting and time consuming projects forthcoming they couldn’t be as big a part of the prize in 2012. They will, I hope, still be keeping an eye on, and hand in, the prize behind the scenes one way or another. I want to thank them both so much for all the time, energy and passion that they have put into the prize over the last two years. We wouldn’t have a prize without them. I will miss working with them this year but will be looking forward to following and supporting their future projects.”

The Green Carnation Co-Founders; Simon Savidge, Paul Magrs & Nick Campbell

For more on the history of the prize and how it all came around you can visit the all new ‘About’ page.

We had intended to relaunch on Monday, however there have been a few hold ups and some exciting new twists and so while everything is sorted once and for all we will have to leave you in suspense for a little longer. It will be worth it though we hope.

We are thrilled to be back and are getting increasingly excited about what the next few months will hold. Expect an official announcement of the judging panel and some other news in the next few days. In the meantime we can officially say that we are open to submissions for The Green Carnation Prize 2012, full details can be found here and the dates for the last submissions to arrive with all five judges is… Friday the 31^st of August 2012. We have started receiving several, but always welcome more.

We are thrilled to be back and are getting very excited about what the next few months will hold.