Duff Cooper Prize

The Duff Cooper Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of history, biography, political science or (very occasionally) poetry, published in English or French. The prize was established in honour of Duff Cooper, a British diplomat, Cabinet member and acclaimed author. The prize was first awarded in 1956 to Alan Moorehead for his Gallipoli. At present, the winner receives a first edition copy of Duff Cooper's autobiography Old Men Forget and a cheque for £5,000.

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An overview

After Duff Cooper's death in 1954, a group of his friends decided to establish a Trust to endow a literary prize in his memory. The Trust appoints five judges. Two of them are ex-officio: the Warden of New College, Oxford, and a member of Duff Cooper's family (initially, Duff Cooper's son, John Julius Norwich for the first thirty-six years, and then his daughter, Artemis Cooper). The other three judges appointed by the Trust serve for five years and they appoint their own successors. The first three judges were Maurice Bowra, Cyril Connolly and Raymond Mortimer. At present, the three serving judges are the historian and biographer Lucy Hughes Hallett, the biographer and novelist Jonathan Keates, and the lawyer Dr Frank Callanan.[1] The 53rd Duff Cooper prize was awarded to Martin J. Sherwin and Kai Bird for their work, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer on 19 February, 2009.[2]

Winners

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "History". The Duff Cooper Prize official website. http://www.theduffcooperprize.org/duff-cooper-prize-history. Retrieved 2009-03-17. 
  2. ^ "Press Release". The Duff Cooper Prize official website. http://www.theduffcooperprize.org/latest-press-release/Press-Release. Retrieved 2009-03-17. 

External links