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Diagram Prize

Set up by Bookseller (the UK book trade weekly)in association with Diagram Group; been running since 1978 - joyous celebration of barmy side of publishing

Diagram Prize 2004

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:40pm
The 2004 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The prize this year goes to the quite barmy Bombproof Your Horse, which even in these troubling times would seem to be advocating taking things a bit far...  Read more

Diagram Prize 2005

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:40pm
The 2005 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The shortlist for the 2005 prize was announced recently.  My favourite competition of the year is run by columnist Horace Bent in the Bookseller (the UK book trade weekly) with input from dedicated odd title hunters from all over the world.  Read more

Diagram Prize 2006

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:38pm
The 2006 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The shortlist for the 2006 prize has received unprecedented international coverage, from the Orlando Sentinel to the Hindu. In the UK listeners were bemused by the Today programme running a competition for listeners to imagine the titles were for a novel and to write the opening paragraphs.  Read more

Diagram Prize 2006 winner

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:38pm
The 2006 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The winner of this prize has now been announced in the Bookseller and is:

The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification by Julian Montague, published by Harry N Abrams.

There were 5,500 votes in all on theBookseller.com, more than ever before. The runner-up was Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan.  Read more

Diagram Prize 2007

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:37pm
The 2007 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

It's too early yet for the shortlist for the Diagram Prize, but there are some fantastic early entries and this already looks like a vintage year.  Read more

Diagram Prize shortlist 2007

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:36pm
The 2007 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

Here's the wonderful shortlist for the 2007 Diagram Prize; this really does looks like a vintage year.  Read more

Diagram Prize winner 2007

Thu, 28/07/2016 - 9:36pm
The 2007 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year - winner announced

The winner of the 2007 Diagram Prize is:

If You want Closure in Your Relationship, Start with Your Legs

by the wonderfully-named Big Boom, published by Simon and Schuster.  Read more

Diagram Prize winner 2008

The 2008 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The winner's now been announced for the 2008 Diagram Prize after another strong year.  Read more

© Chris Holifield 2016-16

Diagram Prize shortlist 2008

The 2008 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

Here's the shortlist for the 2008 Diagram Prize.  It looks like it's going to be another strong year.  Read more

© Chris Holifield 2016-16

Diagram Prize winner 2009

The 2009 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year

The winner of the 2009 Diagram Prize has now been announced

Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Dr Daina Taimina (A K Peters) has won the 2009 Diagram Prize, having received the majority of the public vote for the oddest titled book of the year at thebookseller.com.  Read more

© Chris Holifield 2016-16
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11 February 2019 - What's new

February 2019
  • ‘I never planned to be a writer. It is a very odd way to make a living. Just telling lies... I do have a visceral sense of breaking through the shell of something when I walk into my study in the morning. Now I just go and do it.
  Read more

The Moth Short Story Prize 2019

Information

Closing date: 
30 June 2019
Entry: 
Open to any writer over 16 from anywhere in the world Entry fee €15 per story
Prize: 
1st prize €3,000, 2nd prize week-long writing retreat at Circle of Misse in France plus €250 travel stipend and 3rd prize €1,000

This year's judge is Kit de Waal.

The Prize is open to anyone (over 16), as long as the work is original and previously unpublished. There is a word limit of 5,000 words.

The winners will be announced in September 2019 and all three stories will appear in the autumn issue of the Morh Magazine.  Read more

'Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.'

— Anne Lamott

"Why am I writing this?"

11 February 2019

‘I never planned to be a writer. It is a very odd way to make a living. Just telling lies...

I do have a visceral sense of breaking through the shell of something when I walk into my study in the morning. Now I just go and do it. Sometimes it doesn't go well, but most often, I'll look up and it's time for lunch and I don't know what happened...  Read more