The First Novel Prize is a new competition for unpublished and independently published novelists with a £1,000 first prize.
There are second and third prizes of £250 and £100.
The competition is for unpublished novels in a genre for adult readers of at least 50,000 words. The firstprize winner will be invited to meet the judges, including literary agent Robin Wade and Simon & Schuster fiction editor Carla Josephson.