2023 Literary Prize Shortlist Announcement

Each year a question or quote exploring Franklin’s relevance in our time is open for interpretation in 1000-1500 words. The competition is exclusively for young writers, aged 18-25, with a first prize of £750, and a second prize of £500.

This year, our quote for interpretation was;

‘Government must depend for its Efficiency either on Force or Opinion.’ From ‘The Colonist’s Advocate’, Vol VII. (1 February, 1770).

We received some excellent entries to our 2023 Prize and today we are proud to announce the names of the five young writers that have made it to our 2023 Shortlist. In alphabetical order, these are;

Angus Brown

Ciara Griffiths

Freya Graham

Georgina Arnold

Sam MacKley

If you would like to read any of the shortlisted entries for the 2022 Prize, please click on the writer names to view their work.

The winner and runner-up of the 2023 Literary Prize will be announced on the Benjamin Franklin House website on February 1st 2024, exactly 254 years since Franklin wrote this year’s quote.

In May 2024, the winner, runner-up and other shortlisted writers will be invited to Benjamin Franklin House for a special award ceremony to receive their prizes and meet the judging panel for the 2023 Prize.

The 2023 Literary Prize Judges are;

  • Dr. Márcia Balisciano, Director of Benjamin Franklin House
  • Lord Guy Black, Executive Director of the Telegraph Media Group
  • Wendy Moore, English journalist, author, and historian
  • Dr. Huw David, Development Director at Wolfson College, University of Oxford
  • Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group and Board Member of Benjamin Franklin House

We would like to congratulate those on our shortlist as well as everyone who entered this year’s Prize.

If you are interested in participating in our 2024 Literary Prize, please look out for announcements on our website. The quote for next year’s competition will be announced at the 2023 award ceremony and posted shortly after.