Got a book idea? Write first three pages and you could win £75,000

An aspiring novelist is set to win £75,000 — for writing as few as 900 words.

A new book prize has been launched for those “overlooked by the publishing industry”, with applicants needing to submit just the first three pages of a planned novel.

The winner will then be supported for a year to develop their three pages into a full-blown novel.

However, even if that full-length work reaches the peak of the English language literary fiction world and wins the Booker prize, it would only secure the author £50,000.

The Next Big Story competition has been launched by The Novelry, a creative writing school which has recruited a judging panel including Yann Martel, the former Booker Prize winner.

Louise Dean, an author and founder of the school, said that she wanted to ­reward the impulse of creativity that leads to a first sentence. She added that too many people found it difficult taking first steps into the literary world.

“When it comes to ­writing fiction, the barriers to engagement seem so high. So many self-exclude and find it hard to get the nerve to even try their hand,” Dean said.

“We want to change that with an extraordinary prize that rewards the mischief of that moment and the impulse of creativity, when a first sentence goes down on a page and anything can happen next.”

The prize is aimed at “occasional readers who need encouragement to begin, individuals with limited time or financial means, and those who have been historically overlooked by the publishing industry”.

Interested writers can submit as many different three pages as they like, with each entry costing £15.

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The rules state that it is open to ­entrants from the UK, US, Canada and Australia with their three-page entries to be submitted via The Novelry’s ­website by July 31. A shortlist selected by The Novelry will then be put to a public vote with the judging panel “guided by the public vote” picking a winner by October 12.

As well as Martel, author of Life of Pi, the judging panel includes Julia Quinn, who wrote the Bridgerton series of ­novels, and Tayari Jones, the author of An American Marriage, which won the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Jones said: “Somewhere out there is a writer whose life is about to change.”