The Hessell-Tiltman prize of £3,000 is awarded annually for a non-fiction book of specifically historical content. Entrants, which may include first British translations, are to be books of high literary merit – that is, not primarily written for the academic market – and can cover all historical periods up to and including the Second World War.
Marjorie Hessell-Tiltman was a member of PEN during the 1960s and 1970s. On her death in 1999 she bequeathed £100,000 to the PEN Literary Foundation to found a prize in her name.
Submissions for the 2013 prize are now closed. For the 2014 prize publishers are invited to draw attention to a maximum of two books on their lists. They should be notified to the administrator at hesselltiltman@hotmail.co.uk from 1 September until 1 November and finished or proof copies must be available by 30 November 2013, the closing date of the competition. Publishers should not approach judges directly. Books should be published between 1 January and 31 December of the current year.
Note to authors: all books must be submitted through publishers. Direct submissions from authors cannot be accepted. Nor, at present, can self-published books.
Hessell-Tiltman Prize: Rules
1. The Prize of £3,000 is awarded annually.
2. The Prize is for history only; historical biography is not included.
3. Historical periods covered are allowed until the end of the Second World War.
4. The book must be a first British publication in the English language. Translations can be considered, but the prize will be awarded to the author only.
5. The book must be of high literary merit i.e. not written mainly for the academic market.
6. Books are called in by the judges, the Vice-Presidents and Executive Board of English PEN.
7. There are three judges including a chair.
8. The judges have discretion how they individually and jointly assess the submitted books and their decision is final.
9. English PEN has complete discretion in respect of any change it may wish to make from time to time.
Previous Winners
2013- Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe, published by Viking/Penguin
2012 – The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick, published by Fourth Estate
2011 – The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: the History of a Civilisation from 3000 BC to Cleopatra by Toby Wilkinson
2010 – A History of Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch, published by Penguin.
2009 - The White War: Life & Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, published by Faber & Faber.
2008 – Clair Wills was awarded the 2007/8 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History for That Neutral Island published by Faber.
2007 – Vic Gatrell was awarded the 2006/7 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History for City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London, published by Atlantic Books.
2006 – Bryan Ward Perkins was awarded the 2006 Hesell-Tiltman Prize for History for The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (Oxford University Press).
2005 – Paul Fussell and Richard Overy were jointly awarded the 2005 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History. The award went to Paul Fussell for The Boys’ Crusade (Weidenfeld and Nicholdon) and to Richard Overy for The Dictators: Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia (Allen Lane/Penguin).
2004 – Tom Holland won the 2004 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History for Rubicon.
2003 – Jenny Uglow won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2003 for The Lunar Men (Faber).
2002 – Margaret Macmillan won the inaugural Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History for Peacemakers (John Murray).
Originally posted with the url: www.englishpen.org/prizes/hesselltiltmanarchiveandhist/
