Cherie Blair and Martha Lane Fox are among backers for women's fiction prize after Orange stops sponsorship
Cherie Blair, one of the backers who has stepped in to help fund the Orange prize. Photograph: Ian West/PA
High-profile private donors have stepped in to save the UK's only prize for female writers after a scramble for a sponsor failed to come up with a long-term backer to replace Orange for 2013.
Cherie Blair, the "internet tsar" Martha Lane Fox and the novelist Joanna Trollope are among the supporters who have stepped up to save the Orange prize, which will now be known as the women's prize for fiction.
The mobile services company Orange announced in May that it would not be renewing its sponsorship of the prize that has carried its name since its inception 17 years ago.
Set up to "celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from around the world", the award is given annually to the best book by a woman written in English.
Winners, who in the past have included Barbara Kingsolver, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith, are presented with a cheque for £30,000 and a bronze figurine known as "the Bessie".
The prize money itself is endowed by a private donor, but the remainder of the award's expenses – which run well into six figures – have been met by Orange's sponsorship since the prize was launched in January 1996.
In a statement on Monday, the prize administrators said that while they were looking for a headline sponsor for 2014 and beyond, the immediate future had been secured by gifts from companies and private donors. Individual benefactors included Blair, who has been a supporter since the first year of the prize, Lane Fox, who is a member of the board and heads up the government's digital advisory board, and last year's chair, Trollope, as well as others "who wish to remain anonymous".
Kate Mosse, who founded and chairs the prize, said: "We were overwhelmed with interest from potential headline sponsors. However, it became clear sponsorship budgets for next year were already committed, so we took the decision to privately fund the prize for 2013 while we finalised our arrangements for 2014 and beyond."
She told the Guardian that discussions with long-term sponsors revolved around schemes to develop and grow the prize, which has always prided itself on its educational outreach. "We were blown away by the generosity of people we approached to see us through this first year," she said.
Trollope said: "I both admire and believe in this prize. It has excellent principles, has produced some wonderful winners, and deserves both support and recognition for what it has done and will do. It's also really generous in spirit – and I applaud that."
Cherie Blair, the "internet tsar" Martha Lane Fox and the novelist Joanna Trollope are among the supporters who have stepped up to save the Orange prize, which will now be known as the women's prize for fiction.
The mobile services company Orange announced in May that it would not be renewing its sponsorship of the prize that has carried its name since its inception 17 years ago.
Set up to "celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from around the world", the award is given annually to the best book by a woman written in English.
Winners, who in the past have included Barbara Kingsolver, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith, are presented with a cheque for £30,000 and a bronze figurine known as "the Bessie".
The prize money itself is endowed by a private donor, but the remainder of the award's expenses – which run well into six figures – have been met by Orange's sponsorship since the prize was launched in January 1996.
In a statement on Monday, the prize administrators said that while they were looking for a headline sponsor for 2014 and beyond, the immediate future had been secured by gifts from companies and private donors. Individual benefactors included Blair, who has been a supporter since the first year of the prize, Lane Fox, who is a member of the board and heads up the government's digital advisory board, and last year's chair, Trollope, as well as others "who wish to remain anonymous".
Kate Mosse, who founded and chairs the prize, said: "We were overwhelmed with interest from potential headline sponsors. However, it became clear sponsorship budgets for next year were already committed, so we took the decision to privately fund the prize for 2013 while we finalised our arrangements for 2014 and beyond."
She told the Guardian that discussions with long-term sponsors revolved around schemes to develop and grow the prize, which has always prided itself on its educational outreach. "We were blown away by the generosity of people we approached to see us through this first year," she said.
Trollope said: "I both admire and believe in this prize. It has excellent principles, has produced some wonderful winners, and deserves both support and recognition for what it has done and will do. It's also really generous in spirit – and I applaud that."
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