Our longlists for UK Nature Writing and Writing on Global Conservation are now live!

May 28th 2020 – UPDATE ON PLANS FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2020

Along with every other arts project affected by the Covid 19 public health crisis, the prize organisers are reviewing all our planned activities and events in the coming months. After canvassing key stakeholders and assessing government and health authority guidelines, we intend to proceed with the customary schedule of stages and key dates. Accordingly, we opened for submissions last month and publishers submitted more titles than ever before – over 140 books!

Those submissions have been reduced to a longlist in each of the two categories. We will reveal the longlists on the official website and announce the 2020 prize judging panels on World Environment Day – 5th June.

The shortlist launch is currently scheduled for 30th July and the Prize Ceremony is to take place on 30th August.

Undoubtedly, these events may be affected in some way by future developments under the phased withdrawal from lockdown. We will provide regular updates on this website, but do please sign up to the official Wainwright Prize newsletter to stay informed.

We were due to reveal the winners at BBC Countryfile Live, but, unfortunately our partners there have recently had to cancel this year’s event.

We very much hope we will be able to stage the 2020 Prize Live in a new location, however, this is yet to be confirmed, and we are simultaneously planning for a virtual or digital announcement of both the shortlists and the winners. In any case, we look forward to promoting the vast array of new nature & conservation writing talent this Summer.

Welcome

This year The Wainwright Prize has been extended to include a second category to cover writing about global conservation and climate change.

The Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing:
The book should be narrative driven with a subject that must be related to nature, the outdoors or travel writing (not guidebooks) covering Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a central theme.

The Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation:
The books in this category will reflect efforts in or, studies relating to conservation or climate change as it affects nature and the outdoors. They should be narrative driven and could be global in scope.

The prizes will be awarded to the work which best reflects Wainwright’s core values and are a celebration of the outdoors or a warning over the dangers to it across the globe. Last year’s winner was Underland by Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton).

A £5,000 prize fund will be shared and presented to the authors of the winning books.The Wainwright Prize is awarded in association with the National Trust.