<p>An all-female shortlist for the second &pound;1,500 Sceptre Prize for emerging writers has been announced, in conjunction with the Hodder imprint and the University of Glasgow.<br /><br />Susan Kemp, Mary Paulson-Ellis and Fiona Rintoul were chosen from the 12-strong longlist. All students from the university&rsquo;s Edwin Morgan Centre for Creative Writing who achieved distinctions in their final projects were eligible; they must submit between 5,000 and 10,000 words of a novel or novel in progress.<br /><br />Carole Welch, publishing director of Sceptre, said: &quot;We have been impressed by the high standard shown&nbsp;by many of the entrants&nbsp;to the Sceptre Prize this year, which made&nbsp;it hard to whittle the shortlist&nbsp;down to three.&quot; </p><p>She added, &quot;Having had three men on the shortlist&nbsp;in&nbsp;2008,&nbsp;it was interesting to find ourselves with an&nbsp;all-female shortlist this year. All are worthy contenders, and we look forward to announcing which one leads the field&nbsp;at Aye Write!&rdquo;<br /><br />The winner will be announced on 14th March, and the prize will be presented as part of the Aye Write! literary festival in Glasgow, <br /></p>