Somerset Maugham Award

The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each May by the Society of Authors. It is awarded to the best writer or writers of a book published in the past year who is under the age of 35. The prize was instituted in 1947 by William Somerset Maugham and thus bears his name. The award is to be spent on foreign travel. The total fund for each year is £12,000.

Since 1964, multiple winners have usually been chosen in the same year. In 1975 and in 2012, the award was not given. The award has twice been won by the son of a previous winner: Kingsley Amis (winner in 1955) was the father of Martin Amis (1974), and Nigel Kneale (1950) the father of Matthew Kneale (1988).