Helen Fielding has launched a new literary prize, the Bridget Jones Prize, which will be awarded to the author of the funniest diary-style piece of writing of up to 1,000 words. The initiative is explicitly framed as an effort to identify fresh comic voices working in the short diary format that made Fielding’s own work a cultural touchstone.
The prize will judge entries on humour and the diary-style approach, emphasising the compact, confessional form that helped popularise Bridget Jones’s Diary. Fielding, who created the Bridget Jones character, said the award is intended to spotlight emerging writers who can capture the tone and immediacy associated with the diary genre.
Bridget Jones’s Diary, first published in the 1990s, became widely known for its candid first-person diary entries and comic take on contemporary single life. The new prize builds on that legacy by offering a platform for writers working in a similar vein, reflecting continued publisher and audience interest in short-form comic fiction.
Organisers say the competition is aimed at both new and established writers and hopes to provide recognition for short, humorous writing that might otherwise be overlooked in longer-form publishing. Further details about submission deadlines, judging panel and any associated rewards were not included in the initial announcement.