Your guide to some of the most prestigious literary prizes

In the book world, awards are a near-constant. On a regular basis, longlists are announced, followed by shortlists, then winning titles are selected.

But with so many awards being selected simultaneously, it can be overwhelming to try keep up with announcements.

If you’re familiar with literary awards but have trouble remembering which is which, fear not, this handy guide explains some of the major literary prizes – and highlights a few Penguin Random House books that have either won or been nominated for each.

Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction

The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction is the UK’s premier annual prize for non-fiction books. Founded in 1998 by publisher Stuart Proffitt and PR executive Dotti Irving, it was established to garner equal recognition and prestige as the Booker Prize.

Known as the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction until 2016, the prize changed its name after Baillie Gifford investment house took on sponsorship. Today, it is widely recognised as Britain’s top non-fiction book prize, with winners receiving  £50,000 and global recognition.

2024 longlisted titles:

• Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
• Revolusi by David Van Reybrouck
• Knife by Salman Rushdie
• Nuclear War by Annie Jacobson

Previous Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction winners:

• Chernobyl by Serhii Plokhy (2018)
• H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (2014)
• Into the Silence by Wade Davis (2012)
• Berlioz by David Cairns (2000)

Booker Prize

The Booker Prize was founded in 1969 to celebrate ‘the best sustained work of fiction written in English . . . that not only speaks to our current times, but also one that will endure and join the pantheon of great literature.’

Winners of the Booker Prize receive £50,000 while shortlisted authors are awarded £2,500. Along with the honour, the Booker Prize winner and shortlisted authors ‘are guaranteed a global readership.’

Previous Booker Prize winners:

• The Promise by Damon Galgut (2021)
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (2019)
• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (2019)
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (2014)
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (2011)

International Booker Prize

When it was first established in 2005, the International Booker Prize awarded one living author of any nationality for their entire body of work.

In 2016, however, the award changed and now celebrates a work of fiction from around the world which has been translated into English. Celebrating ‘the vital work of translators’, the £50,000 award is shared between both author and translator. As with the Booker Prize, shortlisted authors and translators also receive £2,500.

Previous international Booker Prize winners:

• Lydia Davis (2013)
• Philip Roth (2011)
• Alice Munro (2009)
• Chinua Achebe (2007)
• Ismail Kadare (2005)

Miles Franklin

In 1957, the first Miles Franklin Literary Award was granted. Established in the will of author Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, the prize has since become the most prestigious literary award in Australia.

The prize celebrates a novel ‘”of the highest literary merit" that presents "Australian life in any of its phases”’, and winners receive $60,000 and international recognition.

2024 shortlisted titles:

• Anam by André Dao

Previous Miles Franklin Award winners:

• The Yield by Tara June Winch (2020)
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld (2018)
• All That I Am by Anna Funder (2012)
• Breath by Tim Winton (2009)
• The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald (2006)

Nobel Prize

Like the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize's scope extends beyond literature. The prize, which was established in 1900, ‘rewards science, humanism and peace efforts.’

As described by the Prize’s founder, Alfred Nobel, in 1895, the Nobel Prize for Literature awards ‘the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction’.

The Swedish Academy selects the Nobel Prize laureates who receive a Nobel Prize medal, a diploma, a document confirming the prize amount and – of course – the prestige of having a Nobel Prize to their name.

Previous Nobel Prize in Literature winners:

• Annie Ernaux (2022)
• Louise Glück (2020)
• Peter Handke (2019)
• Olga Tokarczuk (2018)
• Kazuo Ishiguro (2017)

Pulitzer Prize

Since 1917, the Pulitzer Prize has honoured American excellence in journalism and the arts. Celebrating more than just literature, there are also award categories for journalism, photography, drama and music.

Announced each spring at Columbia University in New York City, each prize winner receives a $15,000 USD prize and a certificate.

Previous Pulitzer Prize winners:

• The Overstory by Richard Powers (2019)
• The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (2013)
• Tinkers by Paul Harding (2010)
• Empire Falls by Richard Russo (2002)
• American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1998)

Women’s Prize for Fiction

Established in 1996, the Women’s Prize for Fiction ‘is the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world.’ One of the world’s most influential prizes in championing women authors, the prize is awarded each year to the author of the best full-length novel written in English and published in the UK.

Winners receive a £30,000 endowment and ‘Bessie’, a bronze statuette, to represent their achievement.

2024 shortlisted titles:

• The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
• Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
• Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

Previous Women’s Prize for Fiction winners:

• Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan (2024)
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (2019)
• The Power by Naomi Alderman (2017)
• The Road Home by Rose Tremain (2008)
• On Beauty by Zadie Smith (2006)

Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction

The most recent edition to this list, the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, was established in 2024 to celebrate non-fiction works by women authors. A new annual prize, this major award celebrates ‘exceptional narrative non-fiction by women’ and ‘promotes excellence in writing, robust research, original narrative voices and accessibility, showcasing women’s expertise across a range of fields.

Like the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is open to women writers from around the globe whose works are written in English and published in the UK. The winner receives £30,000 and a limited-edition artwork known as the ‘Charlotte’.

2024 shortlisted titles:

• Thunderclap by Laura Cumming
• Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
• A Flat Place by Noreen Masud

Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction Award winner:

• Doppelganger by Naomi Klein