responded and did not mince words.“The prize is firmly opposed to any form of discrimination on the basis of race, age, sexuality, gender identity and all other protected characteristics, and deplores any attempts to malign or bully the judges or the authors,” they wrote in a statement on Twitter.The statement also made it clear that the eligibility rules for the award have not changed in the 26 years since its inception and that those rules have always included trans women.“The Prize’s eligibility rules remain unchanged since it was launched 26 years ago: anyone who is legally defined as a woman can be entered for the Prize by a publisher,” the statement reads. “The Prize’s terms and conditions are very clear and the word ‘woman’ equates.