The winners of the Wainwright Prize were announced on Wednesday 11 September in a ceremony at Camley Street Natural Park in London.
An annual award, the Wainwright Prize is given to three books that “most successfully inspire readers to embrace nature and the outdoors and develop a respect for the environment”.
Out of the shortlisted authors, Michael Malay won the ‘Nature Writing’ Category with Late Light: The Secret Wonders of a Disappearing World (Manilla Press, Bonnier Books), Helen Czerski took the main prize in the ‘Writing on Conservation’ category with Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World (Torva, Transworld), and in the ‘Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation’ category Katya Balen won for the novel Foxlight (Bloomsbury Children’s). A prize fund of £7,500 will be shared between the three winners.
The judges also designated three other books as ‘highly commended’: Dispersals: On Plants, Borders and Belonging by Jessica J. Lee (Hamish Hamilton) in the ‘Nature Writing’ category; Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain’s Wild Boar by Chantal Lyons (Bloomsbury Wildlife) in the ‘Writing on Conservation’ category; and Global by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano (Hodder Children’s Books) in the ‘Children’s Writing on Nature and Conservation’ category.
On the winners, Director of the Wainwright Prize Alastair Giles said:
“A huge congratulations to all our longlisted and shortlisted authors and illustrators, as well as our three deserving winners. It’s wonderfully heartwarming to witness the emergence of a new generation of outstandingly talented writers, exposing the genre and its increasingly salient themes to ever larger and more diverse audiences. The Wainwright Prize feels ever more important as we confront the realities of a world in crisis, but as this year’s winners prove, it’s equally important to reflect on finding peace and connection with the natural world, and to inspire younger generations to become better environmental stewards than those before them.”
The ceremony was set to be live streamed by The Wildlife Trusts on Youtube, but unforeseen technical faults prevented the live broadcast from going ahead. However the ceremony was recorded, and is now available on The Wildlife Trusts’ Youtube page.
Words by Louise Eve Leigh