New Literary Prize for Women

ea Consulting Group, a Twickenham-based Management Consultancy, is to sponsor the inaugural 2009 Virginia Prize for Fiction book competition - named after the famous female author and one time Richmond resident Virginia Woolf. The new literary award is being set up by Twickenham publishing company, Aurora Metro Press, now in its twentieth year, and aims to encourage and promote new writing by women.

[UKPRwire, Thu Nov 05 2009] ea Consulting Group, a Twickenham-based Management Consultancy, is to sponsor the inaugural 2009 Virginia Prize for Fiction book competition - named after the famous female author and one time Richmond resident Virginia Woolf. The new literary award is being set up by Twickenham publishing company, Aurora Metro Press, now in its twentieth year, and aims to encourage and promote new writing by women.

Virginia Woolf’s first novel, ‘The Voyage Out’, was completed and published while living in Paradise Road in Richmond where she and her husband Leonard also founded the Hogarth Press in 1917. By naming this prize in Virginia Woolf’s memory, Aurora Metro and ea Consulting Group aim to celebrate the author’s significant literary contribution, her local heritage and her inspiration to aspiring female writers.

The competition is open to all women aged over 18 years of age that have written an unpublished novel in English. The shortlist is to be announced this week and the £1000 prize will be awarded on Sunday 29 November 2009 by acclaimed novelist Fay Weldon at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond. Ms Weldon will also be reading from her new novel Chalcot Crescent. The event is part of Richmond’s Book Now! Literary Festival.

Executive Chairman of ea Consulting Group, Steve Robson, said, “As a Twickenham-based business and keen supporter of our local community and culture, we are excited to be sponsoring this competition.”

ea Consulting Group, which primarily works within the financial services sector, is one of the leading companies in the Richmond and Twickenham area and was named among the top 25 companies in the 2008 Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 as well as being recognised as the fastest growing management consultancy in the UK.

For more information about the Virginia Prize for Fiction, contact Aurora Metro on 020 3261 0000 or send an email to info@aurorametro.com

Tickets for the event can be purchased from the Orange Tree Theatre on 020 8940 3633. It is on Sunday 29 November from 7 pm and tickets are £10 with some concessions available.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About ea Consulting Group
ea Consulting Group (eacg) is a Management Consultancy firm focused on delivery in all aspects of process, systems and people within the financial services, telecommunications and utilities sectors. eacg was formed in 1998 to offer ethically-sound consulting services and has delivered change programmes and consultancy projects globally, across Europe and throughout the UK. eacg has assigned over 250 consultants in the last 12 months and has experienced a 10 fold turnover increase since 2005 and was listed as the fastest growing management consultancy and the overall 22nd fastest growing company in the UK by the 2008 Sunday Times Fast Track 100.
www.eacg.co.uk

Press contacts
Alexandra Lyon-Dean
Alexandra.lyon-dean@eacg.co.uk
07919 093 468 / 020 8898 0734

About Aurora Metro
Aurora Metro Press is a 20 year-old publishing company based in Richmond-Upon-Thames and has published more than 150 writers - winning awards and recognition from the industry along the way. In 2009, three of its new series of international novels for teenagers were shortlisted for The Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation. The company has also published an acclaimed list of dramatic plays for young people and has received The Gourmand Awards for Best Innovative Cookbook in the UK and a Special Jury Prize for Peace for its ground-breaking ‘The Arab-Israeli Cookbook’ by Robin Soans. It was bold enough to publish the satire of the Blair Government, ‘Hard Choices’ by Carol Hayman (co-author of ‘Ladies of Letters’), when it had been rejected by several larger publishers. ‘Hard Choices’ was shortlisted for The Saga Award for Wit and was Fiction Read of the Week for The Sunday Express.
www.aurorametro.com