Baillie Gifford Prize
Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox award The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its motto "All the best stories are true", the prize covers current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The competition is open to authors of any nationality whose work is published in the UK in English.<ref name="home">Template:Cite web</ref> The longlist, shortlist and winner is chosen by a panel of independent judges, which changes every year. Formerly named after English author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, the award was renamed in 2015 after Baillie Gifford, an investment management firm and the primary sponsor. Since 2016, the annual dinner and awards ceremony has been sponsored by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
The prize is governed by the Board of Directors of The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction Limited, a not-for-profit company. Since 2018, the Chair of the Board has been Sir Peter Bazalgette, who succeeded Stuart Proffitt, the chair since 1999. In 2015, Toby Mundy was appointed as the Prize's first director.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:TOClimit
History
Prior to the establishment of the Samuel Johnson Prize, Britain's premier literary award for non-fiction was the NCR Book Award, which had been established in 1987.<ref name=beevor>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1997, the NCR Award experienced a scandal when it was revealed the judges, many of them chosen for their popularity rather than literary qualities, had used "ghost readers" and were not expected to read the books they voted on.<ref name=mccrum/> Because of this and other problems the award ceased operations.<ref name=mccrum>Template:Cite news</ref> In response, one of the previous winners of NCR Award, the historian Peter Hennessy, approached Stuart Proffitt, a Publishing Director at Penguin Press, with the idea for a new award. An anonymous benefactor was found who funded the establishment of the Prize,<ref name=beevor/> which was named after the English 18th-century author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson.
From its inception until 2001, the prize was independently financed by the founding benefactor.<ref name=beevor/> In 2002, it was taken over by the BBC and re-named the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize and managed by BBC Four.<ref name=beevor/> In 2009, the name was amended to the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction<ref name="17april">Template:Cite web</ref> and managed by BBC Two. The new name reflected the BBC's commitment to broadcasting coverage of the Prize on the BBC2 programme, The Culture Show.<ref name="17april" /> In 2016, the name was changed to the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, after its new primary sponsor, the Edinburgh-based investment management company Baillie Gifford.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Prior to the 2009 name change, the winner received Template:Currency, and each finalist received Template:Currency. After 2009, the award was Template:Currency for the winner, and each finalist received Template:Currency.<ref name="17april" /> In February 2012, the steering committee for the prize announced that a new sponsor had been found for the prize, an anonymous philanthropist, enabling the prize money to be raised to Template:Currency.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, funding for the prize was arranged by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, while the organisers sought new primary sponsors from 2016 onwards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2016, under new sponsors Baillie Gifford, the prize money was restored to Template:Currency for the winner.
In 2019, following the announcement that Baillie Gifford will sponsor the award until at least 2026, the prize money was increased to £50,000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
It is widely recognised as the UK's most prestigious award for non-fiction authors.<ref name="flood2009long">Template:Cite web</ref>
Winners and shortlists
1990s
| Year | Author | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999Template:Efn | Template:Sortname | Stalingrad | Template:Won | <ref name="bbc4winners" /> |
| Template:Sortname | Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris (about Adolf Hitler) | Template:Sho | <ref name="prize-1999">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man (about Pontius Pilate) | Template:Sho | <ref name="prize-1999" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too | Template:Sho | <ref name="prize-1999" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Coleridge: Darker Reflections (about Samuel Taylor Coleridge) | Template:Sho | <ref name="prize-1999" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | The Wealth and Poverty of Nations | Template:Sho | <ref name="prize-1999" /> |
2000s
2010s
2020s
| Year | Author | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020Template:Efn | Template:Sortname | One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time | Template:Won | |
| Template:Sortname | Template:Sortname | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2020">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="shelf awareness-2020">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="winik-2020">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2020" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2020" /><ref name="winik-2020" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2020" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2020" /><ref name="winik-2020" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2020" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2020" /><ref name="winik-2020" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Template:Sortname | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2020" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2020" /><ref name="winik-2020" /> | |
| 2021Template:Efn | Template:Sortname | Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty | Template:Won | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2021">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="shelf awareness-2021">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955 | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2021" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2021" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Things I Have Withheld | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2021" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2021" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell (about Robert Maxwell) | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2021" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2021" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Free: Coming of Age at the End of History | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2021" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2021" /> | |
| 2022Template:Efn | Template:Sortname | Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne (about John Donne) | Template:Won | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire | Template:Sho | <ref name="schaub-2022">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="merlene-2022">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="shelf awareness-2022">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | Template:Sortname (about Rudolf Vrba) | Template:Sho | <ref name="schaub-2022" /><ref name="merlene-2022" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2022" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route | Template:Sho | <ref name="schaub-2022" /><ref name="merlene-2022" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2022" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Template:Sortname | Template:Sho | <ref name="schaub-2022" /><ref name="merlene-2022" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2022" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Template:Sortname | Template:Sho | <ref name="schaub-2022" /><ref name="merlene-2022" /><ref name="shelf awareness-2022" /> | |
| 2023Template:Efn | Template:Sortname | Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World | Template:Won | <ref name="guardian2023" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock's Gender Service for Children | Template:Sho | <ref name="guardian2023">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution, | Template:Sho | <ref name="guardian2023" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Revolutionary Spring: Fighting for a New World 1848–1849 | Template:Sho | <ref name="guardian2023" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Time's Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and The Music of Remembrance | Template:Sho | <ref name="guardian2023" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Mr. B: George Balanchine's Twentieth Century | Template:Sho | <ref name="guardian2023" /> | |
| 2024Template:Efn | Template:Sortname | Question 7 | Template:Won | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The Story of a Heart | Template:Sho | <ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | Nuclear War: A Scenario | Template:Sho | <ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial | Template:Sho | <ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin | Template:Sho | <ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World | Template:Sho | <ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> | |
| 2025Template:Efn | Template:Sortname | How to End a Story: Collected Diaries | Template:Won | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s | Template:Sho | <ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Template:Sortname | The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief | Template:Sho | <ref name=":2" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World | Template:Sho | <ref name=":2" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe | Template:Sho | <ref name=":2" /> | |
| Template:Sortname | Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark | Template:Sho | <ref name=":2" /> |
25th Anniversary Winner of Winners Award
In 2023, marking the 25th anniversary of the prize, a one-off 'Winner of Winners' Award was announced.<ref name="prize-2023">Template:Cite web</ref> The judging panel was chaired by Jason Cowley (New Statesman editor-in-chief) and included Shahidha Bari (academic, critic and broadcaster), Sarah Churchwell (journalist, author and academic), and Frances Wilson (biographer and critic).<ref name="prize-2023" />
| Author | Title | Win Year | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Sortname | 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare | 2006 | Template:Won | <ref name="shaffi-2023">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="winner2023">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time | 2020 | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2023">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="schaub-2023">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Template:Sortname | Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest | 2012 | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2023" /><ref name="schaub-2023" /> |
| Template:Sortname | Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea | 2010 | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2023" /><ref name="schaub-2023" /> |
| Patrick Radden Keefe | Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty | 2021 | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2023" /><ref name="schaub-2023" /> |
| Template:Sortname | Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War | 2002 | Template:Sho | <ref name="short-2023" /><ref name="schaub-2023" /> |
See also
- British literature
- English literature
- List of years in literature
- List of literary awards
- Prizes named after people