2018 Cundill History Prize opens for submissions
Submissions are now open for the $75,000 Cundill History Prize, which recognizes and rewards the best history writing in English.
Administered by McGill University in Montreal, the international prize awards the richest purse in non-fiction in English, with the winner receiving US$75,000, and the two runners up being awarded a ‘Recognition of Excellence Award’, together with US$10,000 each. It seeks the book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality and broad appeal.
The Cundill History Prize relaunched in 2017, its 10th anniversary year, to become the world’s most prominent champion of history writing – with a significant lift in visibility, a record number of submissions, and widespread media coverage in Canada, the US and the UK.
Submissions are now open until June 1, 2018 for books published in English between June 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018. Publishers may submit titles published in English from any country in the world, regardless of the nationality or place of residence of their authors. Translations are warmly welcomed. The winner will be announced at the Cundill History Prize awards ceremony in Montreal on November 15, 2018.
Last year, the jury chaired by Margaret MacMillan awarded the prize to the British historian Daniel Beer for The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars (Allen Lane), his ground- breaking study of Siberian penal colonies. The US-based Austrian Walter Scheidel and the Université du Québec à Montréal professor Christopher Goscha were the runners up.
The 2018 winner will join an impressive list of alumni including Stuart B. Schwartz (2008), Lisa Jardine (2009), Diarmaid MacCulloch (2010), Sergio Luzzatto (2011), Stephen Platt (2012), Anne Applebaum (2013), Gary Bass (2014), Susan Pedersen (2015), and Thomas W. Laqueur (2016).
For further information, and to join the conversation please visit: www.cundillprize.com twitter.com/CundillPrize | www.facebook.com/cundillprizemcgill
Notes to Editors
About the Cundill History Prize
The Cundill History Prize recognizes and rewards the best history writing in English. A prize of US$75,000 is awarded annually to the book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality and broad appeal. The two runners-up each receive US$10,000. The Cundill History Prize is administered by McGill University in Montreal and awarded by five distinguished jurors. It honours the abiding passion for history of its founder, F. Peter Cundill, by encouraging informed public debate through the wider dissemination of history writing to new audiences around the world. www.cundillprize.com
About McGill University
Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, McGill is a leading Canadian post-secondary institution. It has two campuses, 10 faculties, 12 professional schools, 300 programs of study and almost 41,000 students, including more than 9,700 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,000 international students making up 30% per cent of the student body. Over half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 20% of our students who say French is their mother tongue. www.mcgill.ca
About F. Peter Cundill
F. Peter Cundill (1938-2011), a distinguished alumnus of McGill University, was a philanthropist, sportsman, diarist, and renowned global investor. A voracious reader and inveterate traveller, F. Peter Cundill had an abiding passion for history: he believed that it was possible to comprehend the present and arrive at a measured perspective about the future only by first understanding the past. This led him to found the Cundill History Prize. The Peter Cundill Foundation continues to support charities, research projects, and educational and enterprise gifts to young people.
For all media enquires please contact Fiona McMorrough and Daniel Kramb at FMcM Associates on 0207 405 7422 or, fionam@fmcm.co.uk, danielk@fmcm.co.uk
