Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books

The prize is open to authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience. Books submitted for the 2012 prize must have been published for the first time in English during 2011 and be available to buy in the UK.

The winner is selected by a judging panel which is appointed annually. They release a longlist of about 12 books and a shortlist of 6 books before the winner is announced in November. The authors of the shortlisted books each receive £1,000 and the winner receives £10,000.

The ‘Science Books Prize’ was originally established in 1988 with the aim of encouraging the writing, publishing and reading of good and accessible popular science books. From 1990-2000 it was known as the ‘Rhône-Poulenc Prize for Science Books’, from 2001-2006 as the ‘Aventis Prize for Science Books’ and from 2007-2010 as the 'Royal Society Prize for Science Books'. 

We also award the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize for books that communicate science to young people.

The call for entries for the 2012 prize has closed. The call for entries for the 2013 prize will open in November this year. 

The judging panel for the 2012 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books are:

• Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS – Visiting Professor at the Department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford
  
  
• Jasper Fforde – author of Thursday Next novels and The Last Dragonslayer series 
  
  
• Tania Hershman – author of short story collections, writer-in-residence at the University of Bristol and founder and editor of The Short Review
  
  
• Kim Shillinglaw – BBC Commissioning Editor for Science and Natural History
  
  
• Dr Samuel Turvey – Royal Society University Research Fellow, Institute of Zoology