The UK’s most Prestigious non-fiction award

The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is the richest non fiction prize in the UK, worth £30,000 to the winner.

Sponsored by BBC FOUR, the prize aims to reward the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of all non-fiction books in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts.

BBC FOUR televise the awards ceremony and feature complementary programming on the channel – forming a key part of their commitment to diverse, intelligent and culturally enriching programmes.

The Trustees

The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is managed by a steering committee and administered by Colman Getty.

The steering committee is made up of:

• Stuart Proffitt, Chair, (Publishing Director, Penguin),
• Antony Beevor (historian and author),
• Mark Bell (Channel Executive, BBC FOUR and BBC TWO),
• Peter Florence (Director of the Guardian Hay Festival),
• Martin Grindley (independent bookseller),
• Dotti Irving (Chief Executive, Colman Getty),
• Adam Kemp (Commisioner, BBC Arts),
• Mervyn King (Governor, The Bank of England),
• James Naughtie (broadcaster, BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme),
• Alan Rusbridger (Editor of The Guardian),
• Peter Straus (literary agent, Rogers, Coleridge and White)
• Martin Taylor (International Adviser for Goldman Sachs)