Woman discovers $150k prize in spam folder

PHILADELPHIA, PA (WTXF) - We all do it. Ignoring the spam folder in our inbox has become habit for many people because in most cases it contains junk mail.

But this wasn't the case for Australian writer Helen Garner; she learned she was the recipient of a US $150,000 literary prize from Yale University after reading an email in her junk folder.

Like the average reader, she thought the good news was a hoax. She then checked with her publisher and the university to confirm that she had won their Windham-Campbell prize for writers.

Established three years ago with a gift from the late novelist Donald Windham, in memory of his partner Sandy M Campbell, the annual prize honors nine writers from any country who write in English, for their "literary achievements or their potential" in fiction, nonfiction or drama. This year's winners hail from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India and Ireland.

The prize is unusual for having no submission process - "no humiliation of applying or being shortlisted, or being in competition with other writers", Garner told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Novelist and critic Stanley Crouch and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins are among nine winners of a $150,000 prize for literary achievement.

Yale University on Tuesday announced the recipients of the Windham-Campbell Prizes, with three winners each for fiction, drama and nonfiction. Crouch was cited for nonfiction, along with Hilton Als and Helen Garner. Besides Jacobs-Jenkins, drama winners were Hannah Moscovitch and Abbie Spallen. In fiction, the winners were Tessa Hadley, C.E. Morgan and Jerry Pinto.

The prize was established in 2013 and named for the late novelist Donald Windham and his longtime partner Sandy M. Campbell.

Each winner receives $150,000.