Excellent English Prize
The King's English Society Prize for Excellent English
This prize is awarded annually by the King’s English Society (KES) for excellent English prose. The aims are: to encourage the production of excellent English, to publicise its existence, and to provide good examples through reprinting some of the best entries in our journal, Quest, if the authors and publishers give permission. It was founded to honour Arthur and Marjorie Goodchild for their generous benefaction to the Queen's English Society as it was named at the time, and was originally called the Goodchild Prize for Excellent English.
All entries must be of prose, fiction or non-fiction, published in a specified year, with a named author or authors, and must be sent in by members of the KES. The writers need not be British or members of the society, and may be professional writers or amateurs. Any long works, such as books, must be represented by a short extract only. All entries are read by each of the three judges, who are members of the KES and experienced writers with diverse backgrounds and tastes in writing.
WINNER 2024
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-seventh Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2023. The Joint Winners Allison Pearson, for Equity? More like a hit wicket for cricket’s racial harmony, from The Daily Telegraph, Features,...
WINNER 2023
THE TWENTY-SIXTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-sixth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2022. All entries were read by each of the three judges, who are members of the QES and experienced writers with diverse backgrounds and tastes in writing. This year we welcomed a new judge, John...
WINNER 2022
THE TWENTY-FIFTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-fifth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2021. The Joint Winners Kathy Lette for Dear daughter, you can take me away any time…. The Sunday Telegraph Travel Section, 14/3/2021. The humour and philosophy are superb throughout, with a terrific first paragraph. Teenagers are God’s punishment for having sex in the first place....
WINNER 2021
THE TWENTY-FOURTH KING’S ENGLISH SOCIETY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENT ENGLISH The twenty-fourth Prize for Excellent English covered material published in 2020. The Joint Winners Oz Clarke for English Wine: From Still to Sparkling, A tour of the regions, South-East (London, Pavilion Press, 2020). This has wonderfully lyrical descriptions of wines, tastes and places. The fascinating facts are brilliantly and digestibly presented, with real purple...