Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Booker (or Man Booker), is one of the world's most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original full-length novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland, Pakistan, or South Africa in the English language. A separate prize for which any living author in the world may qualify, the Man Booker International Prize, will be inaugurated in 2005. A Russian version of the Booker Prize, the Russian Booker Prize, was created in 1992.
The winner of the Man Booker will generally be assured of international fame and success. It is also a mark of distinction for an author's work to be selected for inclusion on the Booker "longlist" or "shortlist".
When the Man Booker was originally sponsored by the company Booker-McConnell plc in 1968, the prize was commonly known as the "Booker", or more correctly, the Booker-McConnell Prize. However, when administration of the prize was transferred to the Booker Prize Foundation in 2002 and the title sponsor became the investment company Man Group plc, the prize became known as the "Man Booker".
The prize money of the Booker was originally £21,000, but has been raised to £50,000 in 2002.
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Judging
The selection process for the winner of the prize commences with the formation of an advisory committee which includes an author, two publishers, a literary agent, a bookseller, a librarian, and a chairperson appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation. The advisory committee then selects the judging panel, the membership of which changes each year, although on rare occasions a judge may be selected a second time.
To maintain the consistent excellence of the prize, judges are selected from amongst leading literary critics, writers, academics and notable public figures.
Winners
Some statistics
- Publishers may submit books for consideration and judges may call for books to be submitted. In 2002, 110 were submitted and another 10 were called.
- The list of books making the longlist was first released in 2001. In 2003 there were 23 books on the longlist, in 2002 there were 20 and in 2001 there were 24.
- For the first 35 years of the Booker there were only five years when less than six books were on the shortlist, and two years (1980 and 1981) when there were seven on the shortlist.
- As of 2003:
- Over the first 35 years there were a total of 201 novels from 134 authors on the shortlists.
- Of the 97 novelists nominated once, there were 13 winners and 3 co-winners.
- Of the 19 novelists nominated twice, there were 7 winners and one two-time winner (J. M. Coetzee).
- Of the 10 novelists nominated thrice, there were four winners, 1 co-winner and 1 two-time winner (Peter Carey).
- Of the 5 four-time nominees, all but William Trevor have won once. The other four-time nominees are Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Thomas Keneally and Penelope Fitzgerald.
- There have only been 2 five-time nominees, Margaret Atwood (first nominated in 1986 and won in 2000) and Beryl Bainbridge (nominated twice in the 1970s and three times in the 1990s, but never won).
- There has been only 1 six-time nominee, Iris Murdoch, who won on her fourth nomination in 1978 and was nominated twice more in the 1980s.
See also
- The Prix Goncourt
- The National Book Award
- The Whitbread literary award
- The Commonwealth Writers Prize
External links
- The official website of the Man Booker Prize
- TurboBookSnob.com - provides information about the Booker, predictions of the winner, book recommendations, and literary links.
- The Book Award Annals - Booker winners and shortlists
- another listing of Booker winners and shortlists