Benson Medal

The Benson Medal is a medal awarded by the Royal Society of Literature in the UK. It was founded in 1916 by A. C. Benson, who was a Fellow of the Society, to honour those who produce "meritorious works in poetry, fiction, history, and belles-lettres". The medal has been awarded several times to writers in other languages, and is occasionally awarded to those who are not writers, but who have done conspicuous service to literature. The medal is awarded at irregular intervals for lifelong achievement. Recipients include: Stella Benson (no relation), Edmund Blunden, Anita Desai, Maureen Duffy, E. M. Forster, Christopher Fry, John Gawsworth, Nadine Gordimer, Philip Larkin, R. K. Narayan A. L. Rowse, George Santayana, Wole Soyinka, Lytton Strachey, SuAndi, J. R. R. Tolkien, Helen Waddell and Rebecca West. In November 2020, the new design for the medal by Linda Crook was unveiled.

From the Wikipedia article “Benson Medal”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Check the official rules of the Benson Medal for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.

If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.