Lily Allen to judge fiction prize

Allen

Singer Lily Allen has been selected to help judge the winner of next year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

The 22-year-old, best known for hits like Smile and LDN, will join the five female panellists to decide the winner of the £30,000 prize.

Broadcaster Kirsty Lang will chair the panel. She said she was "extremely honoured" to be to be asked and "a little daunted by the task".

The shortlist will be unveiled in April and the winner announced in June.

The award was set up in 1996 to promote female authors.

Previous winners include Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy and Helen Dunmore.

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie took the award home this year.

The winner of the £10,000 Orange Broadband Award for New Writers will also be announced at the June ceremony.

The judging panel will be chaired by Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty.