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2000 The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction

The nominated books in the second year of the prize highlighted the extraordinary strength of biography writing, particularly in the UK. Of the six shortlisted books, three were biographies, with the remaining delving into the history of human genetics, a humours travel book, and a study of the United Nations.

Longlist announced

7 April 2000

Shortlist announced

2 May 2000

Winner & prize ceremony

23 May 2000

What the judges said

"This may be a book that satisfies the scholar but in every sense of the word it is a special work; it is a book which will also seduce the general reader.”

Meet the judges for 2000

The longlist, shortlist and winner is chosen by a panel of independent judges, which changes every year.

Nigella Lawson

Creator of the restaurant column in The Spectator

Timothy Garten Ash

Winner of the Orwell Prize for journalism

Stephen Fry

Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in the film ‘Wilde’

Susan Greenfield

Former director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain

Baroness Helena Kennedy

Labour member of the House of Lords

More about the judges