Wigtown essay prize honours 'extraordinary' journalist Anne Brown

Anne Brown died last month after a short illness

Wigtown Book Festival has launched a national essay prize - in association with the BBC - to honour its former chairwoman and trustee Anne Brown.

The former journalist died last month following a short illness.

The £1,500 Anne Brown Essay Prize will be awarded for the best literary essay, published or unpublished, by a writer in or from Scotland.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Wigtown Book Festival on 26 September.

Born in Australia, Ms Brown began her career with the BBC in London and Newcastle before moving to Newton Stewart in south west Scotland to raise her family.

She was heavily involved with both Radio Solway in Dumfries and Radio Tweed in Selkirk in their formative years.

Her son, New York-based film producer Richard Brown, said the family supported the competition in her memory.

Anne Brown's children said nobody would have enjoyed reading the essays more than their mother

"My sister Jo and I are happy to have the opportunity to inaugurate the Anne Brown Essay Prize," he said.

"Our mother was tirelessly devoted to current affairs, literature, broadcasting - and to Wigtown Book Festival.

"We knew Anne was a great mother but I'm not sure we fully understood what an extraordinary producer, reporter and colleague she was.

"She always insisted on giving the credit to everyone but herself."

'Fitting memorial'

He said nobody would have looked forward to reading the competition entries more than his mother.

Adrian Turpin, the book festival's artistic director, said: "We all feel the loss of Anne deeply.

"Simply, she was the best of the Wigtown Book Festival, and we would like to thank her family for creating such a fitting memorial.

"The essay is one of the most exciting and vibrant forms of writing today and it's overdue that Scotland should celebrate its best essayists.

"We hope this annual prize will be a valuable addition to the nation's literary ecology."