Royal Society seeks the best science books of 2011 for adults and young people

Entries are being accepted by the Royal Society from today for two of the world’s most prestigious awards for science writing.

Publishers are invited to submit their best science books for a non-specialist adult audience to the 2012 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books and their best books communicating science to young people to the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize.

The 2012 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books will celebrate the best of 2011's new popular science writing for a general adult readership. The Prize is open to science books written for a non-specialist audience. The winner will receive £10,000 and the authors of the short listed books £1,000.  Books submitted for the prize must have been published for the first time in English during 2011 and be available to buy in the UK.

In 2011 the Prize was won by Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s The Wavewatcher’s Companion (Bloomsbury) and in 2010 Life Ascending by Nick Lane (Profile Books) was the winner.  Before winning the prize, Life Ascending sold an average of 200 copies a month. After winning, sales increased to an average of 4,000 copies a month.  

The 2012 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize will celebrate the best books published in 2011 that communicate science to young people.  The winner will receive £10,000 and the authors of the short listed books £1,000.  The Prize is open to books in which science is a substantial aspect of the book’s content, narrative or theme.  The books must be written for young people aged up to 14 and first published for the first time in English in 2011.

How the World Works by Christiane Dorion (Templar) won the 2011 Prize.  

For both prizes, an online entry form must be completed for each entry, and seven non-returnable copies of each entry submitted to Royal Society Book Prizes, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, UK by Monday 6 February 2012.