The W H Smith Literary Award (originally the WH Smith Award) was established in 1959 in order to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth" and was awarded in respect of the author who had made "the most significant contribution to literature" in the year under review. There were no restrictions imposed as to the age of the author, or the subject matter of their writing and past winners have included poets as well as authors of both fiction and non-fiction, and although the award was originally restricted to authors from the Commonwealth, (a definition which included, for these purposes the Irish Republic), it was later extended to include writers from the USA.

It seems unclear as to whether or not W H Smith intend to continue with this award since the announcement of the 2006 winner, as the award website no longer functions.

Past Winners


REFERENCES

www.unca.edu/~moseley/smith.html
http://www.goodreadingmagazine.com.au/books.cfm?award=52
http://www.bexley.gov.uk/service/lib-whsmithaward.html

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