Every winner, newest first

Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Winners

1999 to 2025

Winners by year

Newest first. The year links to everything published or awarded that year.

Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Winners, newest first
Year	Book and author
2025	How to End a Story by Helen Garner
2024	Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
2023	Fire Weather by John Vaillant
2022	Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell
2021	Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
2020	One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown
2019	The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
2018	Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy
2017	How to Survive a Plague by David France
2016	East West Street by Philippe Sands
2015	NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman
2014	H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
2013	The Pike by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
2012	Into the Silence by Wade Davis
2011	Mao's Great Famine by Frank Dikötter
2010	Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
2009	Leviathan or, The Whale by Philip Hoare
2008	The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
2007	Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
2006	1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro
2005	Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B.S. Johnson by Jonathan Coe
2004	Stasiland by Anna Funder
2003	Pushkin: A Biography by T.J. Binyon
2002	Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan
2001	The Third Reich: A New History by Michael Burleigh
2000	Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness by David Cairns
1999	Stalingrad by Antony Beevor

About the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction

Browse Baillie Gifford Prize winners by year, beginning with Antony Beevor's Stalingrad in 1999. The award was known as the Samuel Johnson Prize until it took its current name in 2016. It recognizes nonfiction published in English in the UK, including history, biography, science and memoir. Each winning book below links to a summary and the story of its award.

Awarded by: The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction Limited
First awarded: 1999
Country: United Kingdom
Winner receives: £50,000

When it is announced

The winner is announced in November, after a longlist in September and a shortlist in October. See the full announcement calendar.

How to enter

Publishers submit books by living authors of any nationality. Eligible nonfiction must be published in English in the UK during the prize's eligibility period. Translations are eligible; books from publishers owned or controlled by the author are not.

Official prize site. Checked August 2026. Dates move year to year, so confirm on the official site before entering.