Samuel Johnson Prize

The Samuel Johnson Prize is one of the world's most prestigious awards for non-fiction writing. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award and based on an anonymous donation and is managed by BBC Four. Each winner receives £30000 and each finalist £2500.

The prize is named after Samuel Johnson.

2008

The 2008 winner is Kate Summerscale for "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Or The Murder at Road Hill House" (about the Constance Kent case).

Other books on the 2008 shortlist were:
*Tim Butcher: "Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart"
*Mark Cocker: "Crow Country"
*Orlando Figes: "The Whisperers"
*Patrick French: "The World Is What It Is: The Authorised Biography of VS Naipaul"
*Alex Ross: "The Rest is Noise"

2007

The 2007 winner was Rajiv Chandrasekaran for ""

The other books on the 2007 shortlist were:
*Ian Buruma: "Murder in Amsterdam"
*Peter Hennessey: "Having it so Good: Britain in the Fifties"
*Georgina Howell: "Daughter of the Desert"
*Dominic Streatfeild: "Brainwash"
*Adrian Tinniswood: "The Verneys"

2006

The 2006 winner was James S. Shapiro for "1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare"

The shortlist was:
* Alan Bennett "Untold Stories"
* Jerry Brotton "The Sale of the Late King's Goods"
* Carmen Callil "Bad Faith"
* Tony Judt "Post War"
* Tom Reiss "The Orientalist"

2005

The 2005 winner was Jonathan Coe for "Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson"

The shortlist was:
* Alexander Masters "Stuart: A Life Backwards"
* Suketu Mehta "Maximum City"
* Orhan Pamuk "Istanbul"
* Hilary Spurling "Matisse the Master"
* Sarah Wise "The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s London"

2004

The 2004 winner was Anna Funder for "Stasiland"

The shortlist was:
*Anne Applebaum ""
*Jonathan Bate "John Clare: A Biography"
*Bill Bryson "A Short History of Nearly Everything"
*Aidan Hartley "The Zanzibar Chest: A Memoir of Love and War"
*Tom Holland "Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic"

2003

The 2003 winner was T.J. Binyon for "Pushkin"

The shortlist was:
*Orlando Figes, "Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia"
*Aminatta Forna, "The Devil that Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Memoir of her Father, her Family, her Country and a Continent"
*Olivia Judson, "Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation"
*Claire Tomalin, "Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self"
*Edgar Vincent, "Nelson: Love and Fame"

2002

The 2002 winner was Margaret MacMillan for ""

The shortlist was:
*Eamon Duffy, "The Voices of Morebath"
*William Fiennes, author, "The Snow Geese"
*Richard Hamblyn, "The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies"
*Roy Jenkins, "Churchill: a Biography"
*Brendan Simms, "Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia"

2001

The 2001 winner was Michael Burleigh for "The Third Reich"

The shortlist was:
*Richard Fortey, "Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution"
*Catherine Merridale, "Night of Stone"
*Graham Robb, "Rimbaud"
*Simon Sebag Montefiore, "Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin"
*Robert Skidelsky, "John Maynard Keynes"

2000

The 2000 winner was David Cairns for "Berlioz: Volume 2"

The shortlist was:
*Tony Hawks, "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis"
*Brenda Maddox, "Yeats's Ghosts"
*Matt Ridley, "Genome"
*William Shawcross, "Deliver Us From Evil"
*Francis Wheen, "Karl Marx"

1999

The 1999 winner was Antony Beevor for "Stalingrad"

The shortlist was:
*Ian Kershaw, "Hitler"
*Ann Wroe, "Pilate"
*John Diamond, "C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too"
*Richard Holmes, "Coleridge: Darker Reflections"
*David Landes, "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations"

ee also

* English literature
* British literature
* List of years in literature
* List of prizes
* Prizes named after people

References

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/books/features/samueljohnson/samuel_johnson_past_winners.shtml Previous Winners of the Samuel Johnson prize.] "www.bbc.co.uk" Retrieved 2 December 2006.
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/books/features/samueljohnson/shortlist.shtml The Samuel Johnson Prize 2005 Shortlist] "www.bbc.co.uk" Retrieved 2 December 2006.
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/books/features/samueljohnson/ Samuel Johnson Prize Homepage.] "www.bbc.co.uk" Retrieved 2 December 2006.