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<\/p>\nBritain’s longest-running literary prize is at risk of being cancelled for the first time in its century of existence as industrial action over staff wage cuts grips Edinburgh University. <\/p>\n
For more than 100 years, scholars and students at the Scottish university have awarded writers with the prestigious James Tait Black Prize.<\/p>\n
Established in 1919 by the widow of publisher James Tait Black, the award has previously honoured literary giants such as DH Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh and Zadie Smith \u2013 carrying a \u00a310,000 award for the winner.<\/p>\n
However, an ongoing dispute between university staff and management over sweeping budget reductions has cast doubt on whether this year’s ceremony will go ahead.<\/p>\n
The start of the month saw the commencement of a marking and assessment boycott that disrupted operations across the university, with Hannah Boast, one of the prize’s chief judges, at the centre of the dispute. <\/p>\n
The university has stopped her entire salary as a consequence of her participation in the boycott.<\/p>\n
She told The Scotsman: “The university is currently withholding 100 per cent of my pay for participating in a marking and assessment boycott. So, at present, there will be no prize.”<\/p>\n
Ms Boast described the action as a final attempt to prevent compulsory redundancies. <\/p>\n
The start of the month saw the commencement of a marking and assessment boycott at Edinburgh University<\/p>\n
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“They want to save \u00a392million in salary costs out of a total \u00a3140million cuts programme, all unnecessary at one of the richest universities in the sector,” she added.<\/p>\n
The University and College Union estimates approximately 1,800 positions could be terminated under the budget cuts.<\/p>\n
Academics and postgraduate students had already put forward their nominations, with winners originally scheduled to be revealed this month. <\/p>\n
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Olivia Laing won the \u00a310,000 James Tait Black award for her debut novel Crudo in 2019<\/p>\n
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The fiction shortlist features Vivek Shanbhag’s Sakina’s Kiss, Nell Stevens’s The Original, Claire-Louise Bennett’s Big Kiss, Bye-Bye, Jackie Ess’s Darryl and Shady Lewis’s On the Greenwich Line.<\/p>\n
Edinburgh University stated it was working to ensure the awards proceed amid the debacle.<\/p>\n
A spokesman said: “While we respect the right of our staff to take part in industrial action, we will work to minimise disruption and support the prizes to go ahead as intended.”<\/p>\n
In spite of the backlash, the university maintains the cuts are necessary.<\/p>\n
![\"Edinburgh](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/edinburgh-university-principal-sir-peter-mathieson.jpg\")
Edinburgh University Principal Sir Peter Mathieson confirmed immediate cost reductions were essential<\/p>\n
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Vice-principal Sir Peter Mathieson wrote to staff last month, emphasising while Scottish higher education funding requires review, immediate cost reductions were essential.<\/p>\n
He said: “Our accounts show that costs are rising faster than our income. We have acted swiftly and decisively, with a carefully planned approach that will deliver the recurrent savings required, while seeking to avoid compulsory redundancies wherever possible.”<\/p>\n
The \u00a3140million savings target, to be achieved over 18 months, amounts to roughly 10 per cent of the university’s yearly revenue. <\/p>\n
Staff have pledged to continue rolling strikes as negotiations remain at a standsill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain’s longest-running literary prize is at risk of being cancelled for the first time in its century of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[113921,748,1102,393,4884,12,1144,712,7101,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-945607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-across-the-uk","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-edinburgh","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-northern-ireland","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-strikes","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116537866805718022","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}