First-time novelist Amy Sackville was hailed as "a writer of seemingly limitless promise" this evening, as her book The Still Point took the John Llewellyn Rhys prize.

The chair of the judges, Claire Allfree, told guests at the award ceremony in Piccadilly that Sackville "took our breath away" with her use of language, while fellow judge Bidisha predicted that the young writer would go on to win "dozens of other awards internationally" in her career.

The £5,000 John Llewellyn Rhys prize rewards the best work of literature by a UK or Commonwealth writer aged 35 or under, and has marked out many who have gone on to become major literary figures, including V S Naipaul, Angela Carter, Margaret Drabble and David Hare. Last year's winner was Evie Wyld, awarded for her debut novel After The Fire, A Still Small Voice.

The Guardian