In a statement announcing the prize, external, Fielding noted how the "comedy heart" of Bridget's story came from the "everyday humour of people around me when growing up in Yorkshire: laughing together at our mess-ups; bringing the fancy and pretentious down to earth".

"There are lots of famous northern comics," said the writer, whose own work was inspired by the likes of Victoria Wood, Alan Bennett and Morecambe and Wise.

"But this prize is for the comic voices of people who aren't famous: just living their lives being quietly hilarious."

The Bridget Jones Prize will be awarded to an unpublished writer, without an agent, based in the north of England as part of New Writing North's Northern Writers' Awards.

Submissions will be open from 23 November 2026 to 1 February 2027.

The winner will be announced at the Northern Writers' Awards ceremony in Newcastle next summer, and will be presented with the award by Fielding.

Will Mackie from New Writing North said: "This is the first time the Northern Writers' Awards have featured an award exclusively for comedy writing.

"There is no-one more fitting to identify an original comedy voice than Helen, who created one of the nation's most beloved comic characters of the last 30 years."

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