Staunch Book Prize has now closed. Thank you to our many supporters worldwide!

We’re proud that the principles of the prize have become so widely known and that it has become a yardstick for noticing and discussing violence against women in popular culture – in books with the prize, and on screen with The Staunch Test.

Despite its early controversy, this unique international prize has been welcomed by readers all over the world, many of whom had given up on thrillers because of the increasingly graphic violence towards women in the genre. It’s now widely recognised that violence against women – especially rape, domestic violence and murder, are at an all-time high. Staunch Book Prize was set up to celebrate all the brilliant thrillers out there by authors who have found something worthwhile to write about that doesn’t normalise brutalised women as a form of entertainment. Just by existing, the prize has made many writers think about alternative narratives and how they can create exciting worlds without contributing yet more stories featuring violence against women to this troubled world.