THE FIRST deadline is looming for entries for the 2009 Dundee International Book Prize—with electronic submissions only admissible up until February 1.

Entries are already being received from around the world—less than three months after it was launched.

But while entrants only have a short time left to submit entries electronically, March 3 remains the final deadline for hard copies.

Award-winning author Kirsty Gunn, professor of creative writing at Dundee University, will chair the judging panel which will also include journalist, author and broadcaster Magnus Linklater, a former chairman of the Scottish Arts Council.

Mr Linklater said, “Any new writer knows the long and agonising process of gaining recognition.

“The Dundee International Book Prize is a unique and imaginative response to that process. It offers talented young writers the priceless opportunity of being discovered.”

The stature of the judges reflects the increasing recognition of the Dundee International Book Prize.

It is now established as the UK’s premier prize for emerging novelists, with a £10,000 cash award together with publication by Birlinn Ltd, publisher of the Polygon imprint.

The prize is a joint venture between the City of Discovery Campaign, Dundee University and Birlinn.

Professor Gunn said, “Over the last 10 years the prize has quietly established itself, within Scotland and abroad, as a unique means of identifying new writers and ensuring that they, in turn, find their audience.”

The prize is open to novels of any genre, theme or setting and the only condition is that it must be from a previously unpublished author.