The Orange Prize is no longer orange. The award, which recognizes English language fiction written by women, has raised funds for next year’s award not from corporate sponsorship but instead from private donors.

The £30,000 award for 2013 will once again be known as The Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Kate Mosse chair of the board (pictured), has been negotiating with bidders for sponsorship since May of last year.

The next large sponsor will come on board for the 2014 prize, but to plug the funding gap a number of individual donors have stepped forward.

Many remained anonymous, but named donors include Joanna Trollope, Cherie Blair, chair of Foyles bookshop, Christopher Foyle and Martha Lane Fox (creator of lastminute.com).

Fox announced in The Telegraph that she was ‘proud to be amongst a wonderful array of angel donors and companies that want to make sure female writing talent is nurtured and supported.’

Previous winners of the prize include Barbara Kingsolver for The Lacuna (2010), Tea Obreht for The Tiger’s Wife (2011),  and Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles (2012). Next year’s winner will be announced on June 5th at London’s Southbank Centre

Judges for the 2012 prize included actor Miranda Richardson (who is chairing the panel), feminist writer and human rights activist, Natasha Walter and author Rachel Johnson.

Which has been your favourite Orange Prize winning book?

Mekella Broomberg