The Writers’ Trust of Canada is adding a new award – its first for international writers – to its annual award program.

The $75,000 Weston International Award, which will honour an international author for their career achievement in literary nonfiction, is being launched as a companion to the existing Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, which will also see its purse raised to $75,000 from $60,000. Eligible authors must have published at least three books of literary nonfiction that are written in English or otherwise easily available in translation.

The Writers’ Trust hopes that the new award, in addition to being of value on its own, will also help to elevate Canadian nonfiction writers, says executive director Charlie Foran.

“We believe that a robust market for literary nonfiction benefits all writers and readers,” Foran says. “We see the Weston International Award as complementary to the Hilary Weston prize – it is singular in that it is for non-Canadian writers, but we very much believe it will both have merit and be of interest and be of value on its own, and will also help elevate the profile of the Hilary Weston prize winner and we hope of all our nonfiction writers.”

The award’s recipient will be selected in a two-fold process: an international advisory committee, made up of U.K. broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, writer Pico Iyer, and author and former editor of The New York Times Book Review Sam Tanenhaus, will develop a longlist of writers which will not be made public. A five-member jury made up of Canadian writers Kamal Al-Solaylee, Denise Chong, Wayne Grady, Charlotte Gray, and Kate Harris will select the winner of the prize. The winner will be announced on June 20, and will travel to Toronto for an event in September.

Details for the September event are still under discussion, though it will include the involvement of Canadian writers “to ensure that the award serves the purpose of benefiting Canadian authors,” Foran says.

The idea for the new international award came from the foundation, and discussions about the award between the foundation and the Writers’ Trust began last summer, Foran says.

The Weston International Award is made possible through a $1.5 million funding commitment over three years by the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation, which also supports the Hilary Weston Prize. Between the prize money for winners and finalists and remuneration for jurors, both prizes will grant more than $230,000 to writers each year.