The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom.
[1] Established in 1942, it was one of the oldest literary awards in the UK.
[2] The prize was initiated in 1942 by Jane Oliver in memory of her husband, John Llewellyn Rhys, a young author who was killed on 5 August 1940 while serving as a bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force.
The newspaper withdrew in 2003, after the initial winner of 2002 prize, Hari Kunzru, rejected the prize and criticised the Mail of Sunday for "hostility towards black and Asian people"[5] Subsequently, the prize was sponsored by Booktrust, an independent educational charity, but in June 2011 the award was suspended due to funding problems.
[2] Booktrust said that it "strongly" intended to bring the award "back with a bang as soon as possible" as it looked for outside funding sources.