AN AUTHOR from Sully is one of six in the running for a £20,000 prize for her work.

Joanna Mazurkiewicz, 31, of Hayes Point is the author of science fiction fantasy novel Wyvern Awakening and has been shortlisted from thousands of entries across a range of genres in Amazon's first UK Kindle Storyteller Award.

The winning author will receive a £20,000 cash prize, a dedicated marketing campaign, access to mentoring and the chance to have their book translated for readers around the world.

The Kindle Storyteller Award genres range from crime thriller, to historical fiction, to non-fiction, to lesbian romance. The shortlist, narrowed down from thousands of entries, has been compiled based on a number of factors that reveal customer interest in the titles, shining a light on the independently published books that appeal most to a UK audience.

The UK Kindle Storyteller Award is in its first year and was established to recognise newly published work in the English language across any genre.

The prize was open to all authors who published their book through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon.co.uk between February 20 and May 19.

Ms Mazurkiewicz said: "I submitted the book to the contest with no expectations at all, but had a feeling that this kind of book might do well.

"I was stunned when I received a phone call and was told I had been shortlisted for the prize."

Alessio Santarelli is the EU Kingle content director at Amazon.

He said The Kindle Storyteller Award was created to celebrate great stories that resonate with readers

"It is great to see that readers have chosen books across such a range of genres and we are excited to see which book our judges select as the winner of the inaugural English language Award," he said.

The shortlist will now be brought to a panel of judges who will decide upon the winning book, which will be announced at an exclusive invite-only ceremony at the Ned in London in late July.

The panel of judges includes actress and literacy campaigner, Lily Cole; best-selling author Rachel Abbott; Irish author, former literary agent and founder of the The Alliance of Independent Authors, Orna Ross; the Metro’s Books Editor Claire Allfree; as well as members of the Amazon Books team - UK head of Kindle singles and chairman of judges, Andrew Rosenheim; UK Kindle content director, Amy Worth; and UK editorial director for Amazon Publishing, Emilie Marneur.

Mr Rosenheim, chairman of judges for the Kindle UK Storyteller Award, said: "It is a remarkably diverse shortlist, ranging from a non-fiction chronicle of one man windsurfing around Britain’s coast to historical fiction that provides an intimate view of a little known king, Henry VII.

"I look forward to reading all the shortlisted books, though I imagine it will be no easy task to select the winner of this year’s Kindle Storyteller Award."

For more information visit www.amazon.co.uk/storyteller.