Orange withdraw book prize sponsorship

Orange withdraw book prize sponsorship NEWS

Share this

Mobile network company Orange have announced it will not be renewing its sponsorship of the book awards after 17 years of it bearing the Orange name.

Orange have announced it will be withdrawing sponsorship of the prize in order to focus on film industry sponsorship. The prize money itself has been supplied through a private donor, however the remainder of the award's expenses have been provided by Orange's sponsorship for 17 years.

The Orange prize for women's fiction was set up in 1996 to 'celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from around the world', awarded annually to the best novel written by a woman and published in English.

Winners of the prize are presented with a cheque for £30,000 and a bronze award known as 'the Bessie'.

In 2010 Orange joined fellow mobile company T-Mobile to form Everything Everywhere in 2010. Speaking to the Bookseller, chief of brand and communications for Everything Everywhere, Steven Day, said: 'While relinquishing sponsorship of the prize is tinged with sadness, we're hugely proud of what Orange and the women's prize for fiction have achieved over the past 17 years. The partnership has significantly raised the presence of international literature written by women in bookstores and on bookshelves across the country, and has played a key part in Orange's success over the past decade and a half, taking our brand into areas that were traditionally harder to reach.'

Award co-founder and honorary director Kate Mosse told the Guardian she praised Orange's sponsorship of the prize but was 'very sad' they have withdrawn their support.

Mosse remains upbeat about the prize's future: 'we're excited at the idea of taking the prize on for another 17 years, and working with a new sponsor to grow it. It's very rare for a sponsorship like this to come onto the market - the investment generates something in the region of £17.5m a year in advertising, and the cultural capital of the women's prise for fiction is practically second to none. The potential is very exciting,' she told the Guardian.

The six titles for 2012's Orange prize shortlist are The Forgotten Waltz by Booker winner Anne Enright, Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick, State of Wonder by former winner Ann Patchett and Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding.

Chair of judges Joanna Trollope said the loss of sponsorship will have 'no impact' on this year's prize, remaining optimistic about the award's future with the sponsorship of a different company.

'I imagine there'll be a lot of competition to pick up the baton,' said Trollope.