Wellcome Book Prize (2009–2019 — paused) is an annual British

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

sponsored by

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

. In keeping with the vision and goals of Wellcome Trust, the Book Prize "celebrates the topics of health and medicine in literature", including fiction and non-fiction. The winner receives £30,000 making it "one of the most remunerative literature awards on offer." The current prize for medicine in literature was inaugurated in 2009, but there was an older award with the same name. In 1998, Wellcome Trust began offering a prize that would enable a practicing life scientist to take time off and write a science book for the general reader. Applicants would submit a book outline and sample chapter, winners would then be obligated to write and publish the book. It appears the only winner was

Michael J. Morgan Michael John Morgan Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (born 25 August 1942) is a professor at City, University of London. His area of research is the experimental psychology of vision, from neuroanatomy to perception and psychophysics. He was born ...

for '' The Space Between Our Ears: How the Brain Represents Visual Space'' (2001), before the prize (for science writing) was discontinued. From 2009 to 2012 it was called the Wellcome Trust Book Prize. In 2013 there was no award however there were changes to the prize including an increase in prize money from £25,000 to £30,000. The timetable of key dates is longlist in February, shortlist in March and winner in May. In 2019, the prize announced that it had "decided to take a pause and reflect".

Winners and shortlisted nominees

References

External links

Wellcome Book Prize
official website. {{Wellcome Trust Awards established in 2009 2009 establishments in the United Kingdom British non-fiction literary awards British fiction awards Wellcome Trust