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1999 - The Judges
Announcement
The judges for the UK’s most important new prize for
non-fiction are announced today.
Cherie Booth joins an impressive array
of literary, journalistic and academic talents: broadcaster James
Naughtie (Chair), historian Orlando Figes,
journalist Kate Summerscale and scientist Lewis
Wolpert.
Cherie Booth comments:
‘I am delighted to be a judge for the first year of the Samuel Johnson
Prize. This award is a very welcome celebration of the best of non-fiction
publishing and I am looking forward to some stimulating reading and debate
over the coming months.’
The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction will be awarded
for the first time in June, with a prize for the winner of £30,000
and for each of the other shortlisted authors of £2,500.
The new prize was greeted with delight by the literary world
when it was launched at the end of last year. Since
1997, with the demise of the NCR Award, there has been no
major prize for non-fiction. The Samuel Johnson Prize
aims to reward the best of non-fiction, from biography to
travel, from popular science to the arts and current affairs.
Unlike other awards, The Samuel Johnson Prize is open to
the authors of all non-fiction books published in the UK,
regardless of nationality.
The first Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction will
be awarded in June 1999. A longlist will be released
in April with the shortlist in May.
The prize is sponsored by a retired British businessman and
philanthropist, who wishes to remain anonymous
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