Orange ends sponsorship of women's fiction prize

Orange has announced that it is to end its sponsorship of The Women's Prize for fiction.

The mobile services company, which has sponsored the prize since it was established 17 years ago, is to focus its brand on the film industry.

Novelist Kate Mosse, the prize's honorary director, said she was in "active discussions with a number of potential new sponsors".

The £30,000 prize recognises English language fiction written by women.

The announcement comes a week before the winner of this year's Orange Prize is to be announced in London.

Mosse, who co-founded the prize in 1996, said: "Our partnership has delivered everything - and more - than we hoped for. A celebration of international writing by women, one of the most significant arts awards in the UK and also a major force in education, literacy and research.

"This is the end of an era but no arts project should stand still and we are now looking forward to developing the prize with a new partner."

She added: "These are very challenging but also exciting times in publishing and we hope that the Prize for Fiction will continue to make as significant a contribution going forward as it has over the last 17 years. To that end, we are in active discussions with a number of potential new sponsors and look forward to the start of another exciting chapter for the prize."

In an open letter on the Orange Prize website, Mosse invites potential sponsors to get in contact.

Steven Day, brand chief for Everything Everywhere, the name of the company formed when Orange joined forces with T-mobile, 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."

He said the partnership had raised the profile of international literature written by women and taken the Orange brand "into areas that were traditionally harder to reach".

He added: "It is now time for us to celebrate our 17 wonderful years - concluding with the wonderful programme for 2012 - and then hand over to a new sponsor to take the Prize forward as the Orange brand looks to build on its established association with film in the UK."

This year's winner will be presented with a cheque for £30,000 and a limited-edition bronze statue known as the Bessie at an award ceremony at London's Royal Festival Hall on 30 May.

Previous winners of the prize, which is backed by the UK charity Booktrust, include Lionel Shriver for We Need to Talk about Kevin (2005), Zadie Smith for On Beauty (2006) and Tea Obreht for The Tiger's Wife (2011).

Source & Image : BBC