Sara Pascoe has won the first Jilly Cooper award at the 2025 Comedy Women in Print (CWIP) prizes for her novel Weirdo. The award, created in honour of the late author Jilly Cooper, recognises writing that embodies her 'brilliant bawdy wit' and support for female writers.
Pascoe's novel follows narrator Sophie's chaotic life. The prize organisers said Cooper 'would approve'. The CWIP awards, founded by Helen Lederer, celebrate witty writing by women and non-binary authors across published, unpublished, and self-published fiction.
The top published novel prize went to Nussaibah Younis for Fundamentally, a unanimous choice winning £3,000. The runner-up was Holly Gramazio for The Husbands. In the unpublished category, Natalie Willbe won a book deal with Hera Books for Music for the Samosa Generation.
The self-published category, introduced this year, was won by Ruth Foster for A Perfect Year. Alison Steadman received the witty impact award for her influence on stage, screen, and comedy.
