Neil Gaiman joins judging panel for Dundee Literary Prize

This year's Dundee International Book Prize, which awards the winner with a £10,000 prize, and a guaranteed publishing deal with respected Scottish imprint Cargo Publishing, will be judged by a select panel of industry experts, including celebrated best-selling fantasy writer Neil Gaiman. 

Joining Gaiman on the judging panel are broadcaster Kirsty Lang, publisher Scott Pack, literary agent Felicity Blunt, and writer and critic Stuart Kelly. The winner will be announced at this year's Dundee Literary Festival, which runs from 22 to 26 October. The award is open for submissions of previously unpublished manuscripts until 1pm on 4 March – the prize also stipulates that the writer must not have previously published a novel. Writers are asked to submit their full novel and a 500-word synopsis. Last year's competition attracted 350 entries.

Last year's winner, Nicola White, who submitted her debut novel In the Rosary Garden, has gone on to launch her career as a novelist, as have previous years' winners such as Jacob M. Appel, who won in 2012 for The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up, and Simon Ashe-Brown, who won in 2011 for Nothing Human Left. Read our interview with Nicola White here.

Cargo Publishing founder Mark Buckland is looking forward to this year's competition: "Once again, we have a diverse judging panel that brings a wealth of experience in finding new talent," he comments. "To have the prize judged by the best in broadcasting, agenting, writing, publishing and prize judging itself, is a mark of the importance and scope of the Dundee International Book Prize."