The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is an award for non-fiction books written by women. It is a related prize to the Women's Prize for Fiction. The prize was announced in February 2023 and will give its first award in 2024 for books published in 2023. The main prize, which is £30,000, will be supported for three years by the Charlotte Aitken Trust. The winner will also receive a statue called the Charlotte. In June 2023, it was announced that the family tree company Findmypast will be the first sponsor of the prize.
Kate Mosse, who announced the prize, said, "It is not about taking attention away from excellent male writers. It is about including women in the conversation."
The prize rules state: "Any woman who writes in English—regardless of her nationality, where she lives, her age, or the topic of her book—is eligible. Books must be published in the United Kingdom between April 1 of the year the Prize calls for entries and March 31 of the following year. The Prize encourages all types of non-fiction books meant for general readers. The judges evaluate the books based on quality, creativity, and how easy they are to understand."
The 2024 judges were historian Suzannah Lipscomb (chair), fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna, academic and author Professor Nicola Rollock, biographer and journalist Anne Sebba, and author Kamila Shamsie, who won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2018.
The first longlist for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, which included 16 books, was announced on February 15, 2024. The Guardian noted that the longlisted books covered topics such as capitalism, artificial intelligence, Renaissance history, and motherhood. The shortlist was announced on March 27, 2024, and the winner was announced on June 13, 2024.
The 2025 judges are journalist and broadcaster Kavita Puri (chair), writer and broadcaster Leah Broad, novelist and critic Elizabeth Buchan, writer and environmental academic Dr. Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, and author of the newsletter The Hyphen, Emma Gannon.
The 2025 longlist of 16 books was announced in February 2025. The announcement described the books as including important reports on current issues, new interpretations of history, and biographies that challenge myths. The list also included memoirs about personal achievements, stories about everyday people, real-life criminal cases, and books that mix different subjects into one story.
Winners and shortlisted writers
The longlist for 2026 was announced on 11 February 2026, and the shortlist on 25 March 2026. The winner is expected to be announced on 11 June 2026.