Judges announced for the 2017 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction

The judging panel for the 2017 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction is announced today. ITV Chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, chair of judges, is joined by Anjana Ahuja, science writer; Ian Bostridge, tenor; Sarah Churchwell, academic and literary critic and Razia Iqbal, journalist and broadcaster.

The announcement coincides with the opening of submissions for this year’s prize. Publishers have until 2 June 2017 to enter up to three non-fiction books per imprint with publication dates between 1 November 2016 and 31 October 2017.  More information about submitting books can be found at www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk.

Sir Peter Bazalgette, chair of judges, says: “Nothing could be more important than discovering and recommending the best non-fiction book of the year. We greatly look forward to the reading, the sifting and the difficult but rewarding choice of the winner."

The winner of the 2017 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction will be announced on Thursday 16 November at an awards dinner at RIBA generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The longlist will be announced in September and the shortlist in October.

The winner will receive £30,000 and each of the shortlisted authors will receive £1,000.

The first winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (previously the Samuel Johnson Prize) was Philippe Sands for East West Street. He donated his £30,000 prize between three charities: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF); SOS Méditerrannée; and Women for Refugee Women.  Baillie Gifford matched Philippe’s donation, with Stephanie Flanders, chair of the Baillie Gifford Prize judges also donating her honorarium for judging the prize.  Hachette UK, the parent group of Weidenfeld & Nicolson, East West Street’s publisher, also made a donation.

The paperback of East West Street is published on 31 March 2017 and will be Waterstones’ Non-Fiction Book of the Month. Philippe will be interviewed by Stephen Fry at the Hay Festival of Literature on Sunday 28 May.