Originally published 9 April 2002

Benjamin Plant, an undergraduate student at the University of Warwick, has won a £6000 literary award for his fiction. Benjamin, who is in his third and final year of study who is reading English Literature and Creative Writing at Warwick, gained the Audrey Pipe Foundation Award despite stiff competition from fellow student-writers from the Midlands.

The award was created to honour the memory of Audrey Pipe, an aspiring novelist. The process of selection is rigorous, involving the submission of short stories over three months to narrow the field to those candidates who are lucky enough to be interviewed.

Ben had spent the previous three years studying within Warwick's Writing Programme and has worked under the instruction of writers such as Maureen Freely, AL Kennedy and Jonathan Coe. But with the Audrey Pipe Award he had to go it alone. The twenty-one year old was delighted at the outcome and plans to use the award to finish his first novel over the next year.

For further details contact:
Benjamin Plant
tel: 07905 824530