( Added: November 9, 2009 )  - ea Consulting Group, a Twickenham-based Management Consultancy, is to sponsor the inaugural 2009 Virginia Prize for Fiction book competition - named after the famous female author and one time Richmond resident Virginia Woolf. The new literary award is being set up by Twickenham publishing company, Aurora Metro Press, now in its twentieth year, and aims to encourage and promote new writing by women.

Virginia Woolf’s first novel, ‘The Voyage Out’, was completed and published while living in Paradise Road in Richmond where she and her husband Leonard also founded the Hogarth Press in 1917. By naming this prize in Virginia Woolf’s memory, Aurora Metro and ea Consulting Group aim to celebrate the author’s significant literary contribution, her local heritage and her inspiration to aspiring female writers.

The competition is open to all women aged over 18 years of age that have written an unpublished novel in English. The shortlist is to be announced this week and the £1000 prize will be awarded on Sunday 29 November 2009 by acclaimed novelist Fay Weldon at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond. Ms Weldon will also be reading from her new novel Chalcot Crescent. The event is part of Richmond’s Book Now! Literary Festival.

Executive Chairman of ea Consulting Group, Steve Robson, said, “As a Twickenham-based business and keen supporter of our local community and culture, we are excited to be sponsoring this competition.”

ea Consulting Group, which primarily works within the financial services sector, is one of the leading companies in the Richmond and Twickenham area and was named among the top 25 companies in the 2008 Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 as well as being recognised as the fastest growing management consultancy in the UK.

For more information about the Virginia Prize for Fiction, contact Aurora Metro on 020 3261 0000 or send an email to info@aurorametro.com, or www.aurorametro.com