Country United Kingdom First awarded 1999 | Reward(s) £30,000 | |
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Awarded for Excellence in non-fiction writing Currently held by Neurotribes by Steve Silberman Official website thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk | ||
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize) is an annual British prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award and based on an anonymous donation. 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.
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The prize was originally named after the English 18th-century author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson. From its inception until 2008 it was named in full the BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize and managed by BBC Four. In 2009 it was renamed as BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and managed by BBC Two. The new name reflected the BBC's commitment to broadcasting coverage of the Prize on BBC 2, The Culture Show. In 2016 the name was changed once more to the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, after its new primary sponsor, the Edinburgh-based investment management company Baillie Gifford. It continues to be administered by the Board of the not-for-profit company, The Samuel Johnson Prize Limited.
Prior to the 2009 name change, the monetary prize amount was £30,000 for the winner, and each finalist received £2500. After 2009 the monetary prize was £20,000 for the winner, and each finalist received £1000. In February 2012, the steering committee for the prize announced that a new sponsor had been found for the prize, an anonymous philanthropist, and that the prize was to be raised to £25,000. In 2015, funding for the prize was arranged by the Blavatnik Family foundation, while the organisers sought new sponsors from 2016 onwards. In 2016, under new sponsors Baillie Gifford, the prize money was restored to £30,000 for the winner.
The prize considers itself to be among the most prestigious, in the non-fiction category in the UK.
2016
The winner, announced on 15 November 2016, was Philippe Sands' East West Street.
The longlist was announced on 21 September and the shortlist was announced 17 October.
Shortlist
Judges
The 2016 judging panel is chaired by former BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders, together with Philip Ball, science writer and author; Jonathan Derbyshire, executive comment editor of the Financial Times; Dr Sophie Ratcliffe, scholar, writer and literary critic and Rohan Silva, co-founder of the social enterprise, Second Home.
2015
The winner was announced on 2 November as Steve Silberman's Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently.
The longlist for the 2015 prize was announced on 22 September and the shortlist was announced 11 October.
Judges
The 2015 judging panel was chaired by Pulitzer prize-winning historian and journalist Anne Applebaum, together with Editor of Intelligent Life Emma Duncan, Editor of New Scientist Sumit Paul-Choudhury, Director of China Centre at Oxford University Professor Rana Mitter and former Controller of Film and Drama and Head of Film 4 Tessa Ross.
2014
The winner was announced on 4 November 2014 as Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk, a lyrical depiction of the relationship between human, wild bird of prey, and enduring emotional loss.
The longlist was announced on 1 September 2014. The shortlist was announced on 8 October 2014.
Judges
The 2014 judging panel was chaired by author and historian Claire Tomalin, accompanied by Alan Johnson MP, Financial Times Books Editor Lorien Kite, philosopher Ray Monk and historian Ruth Scurr.
2013
The winner was Lucy Hughes-Hallett's The Pike, a biography of Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.
The longlist, which was announced on 6 September 2013, featured 18 books. The Guardian reported that this year, judges showed a preference for history and biography, at the expense of works in science. On 30 September, judges announced the shortlist.
The 2013 judging panel was chaired by the cosmologist and Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, accompanied by classical historian Mary Beard, director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti, historian Peter Hennessy and the writer and critic James McConnachie.
2012
The winner was Wade Davis for Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest
The longlist was announced 17 September 2012, the shortlist was announced 5 October. The winner was announced 12 November. The monetary prize for 2012 was £20,000 for the winner.
2011
The winner was Frank Dikötter for Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–1962.
The shortlist was announced 14 June 2011.
Shortlist
2010
The winner was Barbara Demick for Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
The longlist was announced 22 April 2010. The shortlist was announced 26 May.
Shortlist
2009
The winner was Philip Hoare for Leviathan or, The Whale
The longlist was announced 14 May 2009. The shortlist was announced in late May. The judges announced the winner of the prize at an awards event at King's Place, London on 30 June. The monetary prize for 2009 was £20,000 for the winner, and each finalist receives £1000.
Shortlist
2008
The winner was Kate Summerscale for The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or the Murder at Road Hill House
Shortlist
2007
The winner was Rajiv Chandrasekaran for Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
Shortlist
2006
The winner was James S. Shapiro for 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
Shortlist
2005
The winner was Jonathan Coe for Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson (about B. S. Johnson)
Shortlist
2004
The winner was Anna Funder for Stasiland – True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
Shortlist
2003
The winner was T. J. Binyon for Pushkin: A Biography (about Alexander Pushkin)
Shortlist
2002
The winner was Margaret MacMillan for Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War
Shortlist
2001
The winner was Michael Burleigh for The Third Reich: A New History
Shortlist
2000
The winner was David Cairns for Berlioz: Volume 2 (about Hector Berlioz)
Shortlist
1999
The winner was Antony Beevor for Stalingrad
Shortlist