Peters Fraser & Dunlop will continue its sponsorship of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize until 2020.

The prize was founded seven years ago by former Lucy Cavendish president, Janet Todd, to champion unpublished women writers and is the only official literary prize of the University of Cambridge. Various winners and shortlisted entrants have gone on to find publishing success.

Alumnae include 2013 winner Catherine Chanter whose debut The Well (Canongate) became a Richard and Judy Book Club pick with TV rights having been optioned by a major US studio. Gail Honeymoon, a finalist in 2014, was recently selected as one of the Observer’s new faces of fiction for 2017 for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (HarperCollins). Her novel was the subject of a bidding war at Frankfurt and will be published on 18th May. Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott’s Swan Song was shortlisted in 2015 before being acquired by Hutchinson last October in a six-figure pre-empt and will be published in the UK next year.

PFD agent Nelle Andrew has served as a judge since 2015. She said: “Lucy Cavendish is exactly the kind of prize that truly makes a difference in finding those voices who may not otherwise find their way into the publishing world. Its alumnae are from the broadest spectrum of women all over the UK, at all stages of the lives. PFD is delighted to continue their partnership for an award which recognises these great, undiscovered voices and to ensure this prize goes from strength to strength.”