The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, which was previously called the Samuel Johnson Prize, is a yearly British award given to the best non-fiction books written in English. It was created in 1999 after the NCR Book Award ended. The prize uses the motto "All the best stories are true" and includes categories such as current events, history, politics, science, sports, travel, biography, autobiography, and the arts. The competition is open to authors from any country whose books are published in the UK in English. A group of independent judges, which changes each year, selects the longlist, shortlist, and winner. The award was renamed in 2015 after Baillie Gifford, an investment company and main sponsor, replacing its earlier name, which honored Samuel Johnson, an English writer and dictionary maker. Since 2016, the annual dinner and ceremony have been supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
The prize is managed by the Board of Directors of The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction Limited, a nonprofit organization. Since 2018, Sir Peter Bazalgette has been the Chair of the Board, taking over from Stuart Proffitt, who held the position since 1999. In 2015, Toby Mundy became the first director of the Prize.
History
Before the Samuel Johnson Prize was created, the most important literary award in Britain for non-fiction books was the NCR Book Award, which began in 1987. In 1997, the NCR Award faced a major problem when it was discovered that the judges, many of whom were chosen for their popularity instead of their literary skills, used "ghost readers" to help them. These judges were not expected to read the books they voted on. Because of this and other issues, the award stopped operating. In response, Peter Hennessy, a previous winner of the NCR Award and a historian, talked to Stuart Proffitt, a Publishing Director at Penguin Press, about creating a new award. An anonymous donor provided funding for the new prize, which was named after Samuel Johnson, an 18th-century English writer and dictionary maker.
From its start until 2001, the prize was funded by the original donor. In 2002, the BBC took over the prize and renamed it the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize, managed by BBC Four. In 2009, the name changed to the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, managed by BBC Two. This new name showed the BBC’s plan to broadcast coverage of the prize on BBC2’s program, The Culture Show. In 2016, the name changed again to the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, after the Edinburgh-based investment company Baillie Gifford became the main sponsor.
Before the 2009 name change, the winner received £30,000, and each finalist received £2,500. After 2009, the winner received £20,000, and each finalist received £1,000. In February 2012, the prize committee announced a new anonymous donor, which allowed the prize money to increase to £25,000. In 2015, the Blavatnik Family Foundation provided funding, and organizers searched for new main sponsors starting in 2016.
In 2016, under the new sponsor Baillie Gifford, the prize money returned to £30,000 for the winner. In 2019, after Baillie Gifford announced it would sponsor the award until at least 2026, the prize money increased to £50,000.
It is widely recognized as the UK’s most respected award for non-fiction authors.
Winners and shortlists
In 2023, the 25th anniversary of the prize was celebrated with the introduction of a special "Winner of Winners" Award. The judging group was led by Jason Cowley, chief editor of New Statesman, and included Shahidha Bari, a scholar, writer, and media personality; Sarah Churchwell, a journalist, author, and scholar; and Frances Wilson, a biographer and writer who critiques books and art.