The 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction

'all the best stories are true'

http://www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk/

The UK’s most prestigious non fiction prize is to be renamed the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction it was announced today, 17 April 2009. Formerly The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize, the change in name reflects the BBC’s commitment to broadcasting coverage of the Prize on BBC TWO’s The Culture Show. The prize is worth £30,000 to the winning author.
This is the 11th year of the Prize which aims to reward the best non-fiction published in the UK, from biography, travel and popular science to the arts and current affairs.

The worldwide reputation of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize is such that the winning author may expect a huge increase in sales and recognition. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury) has enjoyed continuing success in the hardback and paperback bestseller lists since winning in 2008, both in the UK and the United States. It was also named Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2009.

The panel for the 2009 Prize is also announced today. Jacob Weisberg, one of America’s leading political journalists and commentators, will be Chair of the Judges.

He is joined by Dr Mark Lythgoe, neuroscientist and Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival; Tim Marlow, writer, broadcaster and art historian; Munira Mirza, Director of Policy, Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries at the Mayor of London’s office; and Sarah Sands, an experienced journalist and currently editor-in-chief of Reader’s Digest magazine.
The Prize is open to authors of all non-fiction books published in the UK, regardless of nationality or of origin. The longlist, which features approximately twenty titles, will be announced in late April. The shortlist of up to six titles will be announced in mid-May.

The judges will announce the winner of the Prize at an awards event at King’s Place, London on 30th June. The winner receives £30,000, and each of the five shortlisted authors, £1,000.

Former Winners

1999 Stalingrad by Antony Beevor (Penguin)
2000 Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness by David Cairns (The Penguin Press)
2001 The Third Reich: A New History by Michael Burleigh (Macmillan)
2002 Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 by Margaret Macmillan (John Murray)
2003 Pushkin: A biography by T.J. Binyon (HarperCollins)
2004 Stasiland by Anna Funder (Granta)
2005 Like a Fiery Elephant by Jonathan Coe (Picador)
2006 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro (Faber & Faber)
2007 Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Bloomsbury)
2008 The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury)