The Wainwright Prize

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

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.

Last year’s winner was Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty (Little Toller Press).

The Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation:

The books in this category (running for a second year), will reflect efforts in or, studies relating to conservation or climate change. They should be narrative driven and could be global in scope.

Last year’s winner was Rebirding by Benedict Macdonald (Pelagic).

Key Details

The prizes will be awarded to the work which best reflects Wainwright’s core values and include a celebration of nature and our natural environment or a warning of the dangers to it across the globe.

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.

Primarily, we are looking for narrative non-fiction, but fiction is accepted if it is heavily influenced or reflective of nature or our natural environment. Encouraging a love of the importance of nature and the environment from a young age is important to the prize so; children’s titles covering either of the above two themes are also accepted for submission.

Key Dates: 

Submissions open – 29th March
Submissions close – 23rd April
Longlist Announcement – 24th June TBC
Shortlist Announcement – 4th August TBC
Ceremony – 7th September TBC

The longlists in both categories will be defined from the nominations using a combination of the views of; Independent Booksellers throughout the UK, specialist nature reviewers and with the assistance of a committee from The Wainwright Society.

There will be two separate and independent judging panels for both categories within the prize to select the shortlists and winners. Chairs and panel members to be revealed during May 2021.

Submissions are accepted from all publishers, small, independent or large and must be accompanied by a copy sent by post to:

Agile Ideas, c/o WP2021
Studio 10, Glove Factory Studios
Brook Lane, Holt
Wilts, BA14 6RL


Each title successfully shortlisted attracts a levy to cover the promotional costs associated with the prize including; the project management, design, publicity, production and print of all the official POS material to all retailers, 
including; our partners; The National Trust. The exact amount is still to be confirmed, but will be similar to last years shortlist levy. Based on the increased share of exposure, there will also be a small winners levy in 2021.