Parts of this article (those related to needs 2025 shortlists) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2025)
The Wainwright Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of general outdoors, nature and UK-based travel writing. In 2020 it was split into the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing and the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation, with separate longlists and judging panels. It is restricted to books published in the UK.[1]
For three years starting in 2022 the prizes were sponsored by Kendal paper-makers James Cropper plc and known as the James Cropper Wainwright Prizes.[2] A prize for writing for children was introduced in 2022, the three prizes newly titled the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation and the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation.[3]
The prize celebrates the legacy of British guidebook writer Alfred Wainwright. The prize was established by Frances Lincoln Publishers and The Wainwright Society, in association with the National Trust. It was originally sponsored by Thwaites Brewery, who produced a beer called Wainwright Ale[4] and was later sponsored by Marston's Brewery, who took over Thwaites' production of Wainwright Golden Beer, and sometimes referred to as The Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize.[5] In 2020 the prize was no longer sponsored, but was supported by an anonymous benefactor and was "in association with the National Trust".[1] In 2021 the Kendal papermakers James Cropper plc became the prize's "headline sponsors" in a three-year agreement.[6] In 2024 it was announced that the prize would be seeking new sponsorship.[7]As of July 2025[update] the prize's partners were: the RSPB, the Wainwright Society, The Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust, Frances Lincoln, World Book Day, National Geographic Kids, and marketing company[8] Agile.[9]
The prize was first awarded in 2014 to Hugh Thomson for his The Green Road into the Trees: A Walk Through England. The winner received a cheque for £5,000. With the introduction of two prizes in 2020 the prize money was shared between the two winners,[1] and in 2022 it was increased to £7,500 to be shared between the three winners.[3]
In 2025 there were six categories: Nature Writing, Conservation Writing, Illustrative Books, Children's Fiction, Children's Non-Fiction, and Children's Picture Books. There would be category winners and two overall winners, the Wainwright Prize Book of the Year and the Wainwright Children's Prize Book of the Year. The two overall winners will receive £2,500, while each other category winner will receive £500, for a total of £7,000 prize money.[10]
Winners and shortlisted titles
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the book was first published. Entries with a blue background and an asterisk (*) next to the writer's name have won the award; those with a pale background are the other nominees on the shortlist.
Submissions for the 2025 prizes closed on 6 March 2025. The longlists were announced in July 2025; the shortlists were announced on 5 August[10][29] and the winners will be announced on 10 September.[30]
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