Wainwright Prize

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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 from 2022 the prizes will be 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 being 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]

Contents

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]

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]

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.

  *   Winners

YearAuthorBookPublisherNotes
2014 [8] Hugh Thomson *The Green Road Into The Trees: A Walk through England
Simon Armitage Walking Home
Patrick Barkham Badgerlands
Charlotte Higgins Under Another Sky
Robert Macfarlane The Old Ways
Esther Woolfson Field Notes from a Hidden City
2015 [9] John Lewis-Stempel  *Meadowland [10]
Richard Askwith Running Free: A Runner's Journey Back to Nature
William Atkins The Moor
Mark Cocker Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet
Helen Macdonald H is for Hawk
Philip Marsden Rising Ground: A Search for the Spirit of Place
2016 [11] Amy Liptrot  * The Outrun [12]
Rob Cowen Common Ground
Robert Macfarlane Landmarks
Michael McCarthy The Moth Snowstorm
Katharine Norbury The Fish Ladder
James Rebanks The Shepherd's Life
2017 [13] John Lewis-Stempel  * Where Poppies Blow
Madeleine Bunting Love of Country
Simon Cooper The Otters' Tale
John Lewis-Stempel The Running Hare
Stephen Moss Wild Kingdom
Christopher Somerville The January Man
Clover Stroud The Wild Other
2018 [14] Adam Nicolson  *The Seabird's Cry
Neil Ansell The Last Wilderness
Alys Fowler Hidden Nature
John Grindrod Outskirts
John Lister-Kaye The Dun Cow Rib
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris The Lost Words
Raynor Winn The Salt Path
2019 [15] Robert Macfarlane  * Underland
Julia Blackburn Time Song
Juliet Blaxland The Easternmost House
Mark Cocker Our Place
Kate Humble Thinking on My Feet
Isabella Tree Wilding
Luke Turner Out of the Woods
2020:
Global
Cons'n
[16]
Benedict Macdonald  *Rebirding: Restoring Britain's Wildlife
Chris Goodall What We Need to Do Now
Julian Hoffman Irreplaceable
Helen Pilcher Life Changing: How Humans are Altering Life on Earth
Jeremy Purseglove Working With Nature
Carolyn Steel Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World
2020:
UK
Nature
Writing
[17]
Dara McAnulty  *Diary of a Young Naturalist
Lamorna Ash Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town
David Gange The Frayed Atlantic Edge
Patrick Laurie Native: Life in a Vanishing Landscape
Mike Parker On the Red Hill
Jini Reddy Wanderland: A Search for Magic in the Landscape
Brigit Strawbridge Howard Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Nature
2021:
Global
Cons'n
[18]
Merlin Sheldrake  * Entangled Life
David Attenborough A Life on Our Planet
Cal Flyn Islands of Abandonment
Rebecca Giggs Fathoms: The World in the Whale
Dieter Helm Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change
Elizabeth Kolbert Under a White Sky
2021:
UK
Nature
Writing
[18]
James Rebanks  *English Pastoral: An Inheritance
Charles Foster The Screaming Sky
Charlie Gilmour Featherhood
Marc Hamer Seed to Dust
Kerri ní Dochartaigh Thin Places
Anita Sethi I belong here
Raynor Winn The Wild Silence
2022:
Nature
Writing
[3] [19]
James Aldred  *Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any OtherElliott & Thompson
Nicola Chester On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and BelongingChelsea Green
Matthew Green Shadowlands: A Journey Through Lost BritainFaber & Faber
Amy Liptrot The Instant Canongate
Anna Fleming Time on Rock: A Climber’s Route into the MountainsCanongate
Thomas Halliday Otherlands: A World in the MakingAllen Lane
2022:
Writing on
Conservation
[3] [19]
Dan Saladino  * Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them Jonathan Cape
Alice Bell Our Biggest Experiment: A History of the Climate CrisisBloomsbury Sigma
Dave Goulson Silent Earth: Averting the Insect ApocalypseVintage
Oliver Milman The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the WorldAtlantic Books
George Monbiot Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the PlanetAllen Lane
Ben Rawlance The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth Jonathan Cape
Lee Schofield Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill FarmDoubleday
2022:Children's
Writing on
Nature and
Conservation [3] [19]
Rob Sears  *The Biggest Footprint: Eight billion Humans. One Clumsy GiantCanongateillustrated by Tom Sears
Katya Balen October, OctoberBloomsbury Children's Books
Nicola Davies One World: 24 Hours on Planet Earth Walker Books
Kiran Millwood Hargrave Julia and the SharkOrion Children’s Booksillustrated by Tom de Freston
Melissa Harrison By Rowan and YewChicken Houseillustrated by Angela Harding
Ben Lerwill Around the World in 80 TreesWelbeckillustrated by Kaja Kajfež
Dara McAnulty Wild Child: A Journey Through NatureMacmillan Children's Booksillustrated by Barry Falls
2023:
Nature
Writing
[20] [21]
Amy-Jane Beer  *The Flow: Rivers, Water and WildnessBloomsbury
Elizabeth-Jane Burnett Twelve Words for MossAllen Lane
Stephen Moss Ten Birds That Changed the WorldFaber
Dorthe Nors A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea CoastPushkintranslated by Caroline Waight
Katherine Rundell The Golden Mole: And Other Living TreasureFaberillustrated by Talya Baldwin
Amanda Thomson Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and HomeCanongate
2023:
Writing on
Conservation
[20] [21]
Guy Shrubsole  *The Lost Rainforests of BritainWilliam Collins
Keggie Carew Beastly: A New History of Animals and UsCanongate
Charles Clover Rewilding the Sea: How to Save Our OceansEbury
Sarah Langford Rooted: How Regenerative Farming Can Change the WorldViking
Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall Black Ops and Beaver Bombing: Adventures with Britain’s Wild MammalsOneworld
Gaia Vince Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate UpheavalAllen Lane
2023:Children's
Writing on
Nature and
Conservation [20] [21]
Kiran Millwood Hargrave  *Leila and the Blue FoxChicken Houseillustrated by Tom de Freston
Nicola Davies Protecting the Planet: The Season of GiraffesWalker Booksillustrated by Emily Sutton
Olaf Falafel BlobfishWalker Books
M. G. Leonard Spark Walker Books
Dara McAnulty A Wild Child’s Book of BirdsMacmillanChildren’s Booksillustrated by Barry Falls
Anna Wilson Grandpa and the KingfisherNosy Crowillustrated by Sarah Massini
2024:
Nature
Writing [22] [23]
Michael Malay *Late Light: The Secret Wonders of a Disappearing WorldManila Press, Bonnier Books
Marchelle Farrell Uprooting: From the Caribbean to the CountrysideCanongate
Kat Hill Bothy: In Search of Simple ShelterWilliam Collins
Alastair Humphreys Local: A Search for Nearby Nature and WildnessFaber
Jessica J. Lee Dispersals: On Plants, Borders and BelongingHamish Hamilton
Olivia Laing The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common ParadisePicador
Rebecca Smith Rural: The Lives of the Working Class CountrysideWilliam Collins
2024:
Writing on
Conservation
[22] [23]
Helen Czerski *Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our WorldTorva, Transworld
Oliver Franklin-Wallis Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It MattersSimon & Schuster
Chantal Lyons Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain’s Wild BoarBloomsbury Wildlife
Tori Tsui It’s Not Just You: How to Navigate Eco-Anxiety and the Climate CrisisSimon & Schuster, Gallery Books
John Vaillant Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter WorldSceptre, Hodder & Stoughton
Sophie Yeo Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring it BackHarperNorth/ HarperCollins
2024:
Children's
Writing on
Nature and
Conservation [22] [23]
Katya Balen *FoxlightBloomsbury Children's
Giselle Clarkson The ObservologistGecko Press
Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin GlobalHodder Children's Booksillustrated by Giovanni Rigano
Nicola Davies Skrimsli Firefly Pressillustrated by Jackie Morris
David Lindo Fly: A Child’s Guide to Birds and Where to Spot ThemMagic Cat Publishingillustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows
Kiran Millwood Hargrave Geomancer: In The Shadow of the Wolf QueenOrion Children's Books
Katherine Rundell Impossible CreaturesBloomsbury Children's
Isabella Tree Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife BackMacmillan Children's Booksillustrated by Angela Harding

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References

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