The UK’s most Prestigious non-fiction award

The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is the richest non fiction prize in the UK, worth £20,000 to the winner.

Sponsored by the BBC, 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.

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

The Trustees

The BBC 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)