Increase in prize money to £50,000 and 2019 judges have been announced

Baillie Gifford, the independent investment partnership that sponsors the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, has committed to support the prize until at least 2026, it is announced today.  This enables the Baillie Gifford Prize to increase the award for the winner from £30,000 to £50,000.

In further developments, Times Literary Supplement editor Stig Abell will chair the judging panel for the 2019 award, and the Prize will launch a regular podcast in April.

Stig Abell is joined by journalist, TV producer and writer, Dr Myriam Francois, professor of English Literature Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, critic and biographer Frances Wilson, writer and lawyer Petina Gappah, and the writer, doctor and TV presenter Dr Alexander van Tulleken BMBCh MPH.

A series of Baillie Gifford Prize podcasts will be launched in April, hosted by Razia Iqbal, special correspondent at BBC News, where she presents BBC World Service’s Newshour and BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight. It will feature former winners, prize judges and other literary figures, as they reflect on winning books from down the years, the state of contemporary non-fiction, lessons for the contemporary world and much more.

The announcement coincides with the opening of submissions for this year’s prize. Publishers have until 12 June 2019 to enter up to three non-fiction books per imprint with publication dates between 1 November 2018 and 31 October 2019.  More information about submitting books can be found at www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk.

Stig Abell says:

“I read books to increase my knowledge and to widen my outlook on the world. I talk to smart people for the same purpose. So chairing the Baillie Gifford Prize will be a total joy: a bunch of smart people talking about the year's most interesting, provocative and arresting non-fiction. I can't wait to get reading.”

The winner of the 2019 prize will be announced on 19 November, following the shortlist announcement in October and longlist in September.

The prize aims to recognise and reward the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of any nationality. It covers all non-fiction in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts.

The new podcast series and 2019 Awards Dinner are both generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.