The sponsorship of the U.K.'s most prestigious literary prize has been handed over to the Man Investment Group. The value of the winning award will leap from £20,000 to £50,000, and each shortlisted author will now receive £2,500, up from £1,000. The Man Group is a global provider of alternative investment products and has headquarters in London and offices in Switzerland, New York, Chicago, Paris and Singapore. The sponsorship deal is worth £2.5 million and has been signed for a five-year period. The prize will be known as the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
At present, submissions are made by publishers on behalf of writers based in British Commonwealth countries. In view of the Man Group's intention to promote interest in contemporary fiction in an even wider community, PW asked a spokesperson for the Booker Prize whether the territory might be enlarged to include the U.S. "It is unlikely at this stage, but we are looking at all kinds of options for the future. What would be more likely would be a separate American Booker Prize, but that is a long way down the tracks."
