The NCR Book Award for Non-Fiction, established in 1987 and sponsored by

NCR Corporation NCR Voyix Corporation, previously known as NCR Corporation and National Cash Register, is a global software, consulting and technology company providing several professional services and Electronics, electronic products. It manufactured Self-c ...

, was for a time the UK's major award for non-fiction. Closing in 1997 after a period of decline and scandal, it is best remembered as the forerunner of the

Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

History

The award was founded at a time when there were no major non-fiction awards in Britain comparable to the highly successful

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

for fiction. It was part of a new "golden age" of non-fiction that started in the 1980s, according to

Antony Beevor Sir Antony James Beevor, (born 14 December 1946) is a British military historian. He has published several popular historical works, mainly on the Second World War, the Spanish Civil War, and most recently the Russian Revolution and Civil War. ...

. In the early 1990s, NCR was acquired by AT&T and the award became rudderless and dated; one critic said the "NCR spoke volumes of the Thatcherised values of contemporary English culturea winner-takes-all triumphalism, a boastful indifference to good writing, a corresponding obsession with design and presentation". In 1997, the award experienced an existential scandal when it was revealed the judges had used "professional readers", summaries and book reviews instead of reading all of the entries. In response, one of the previous winners,

Peter Hennessy Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, (born 28 March 1947) is an English historian and academic specialising in the history of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary Univ ...

, approached Penguin with the idea for a new award, and an anonymous benefactor was found who funded the establishment of the

(1999). Facing bad publicity and a tarnished reputation, the NCR Award closed out with ''A People's Tragedy'' in 1997.

Winners

Source 1988–1995: * 1988 David Thomson, '' Nairn in Darkness and Light'' (Hutchinson) * 1989 Joe Simpson, '' Touching the Void'' (Jonathan Cape) * 1990

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...

, '' Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution'' (Viking) * 1991

Claire Tomalin Claire Tomalin (née Delavenay; born 20 June 1933) is an English journalist and biographer known for her biographies of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft. Early life Tomalin was born Claire Delaven ...

, '' The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens'' (Viking) * 1992

Jung Chang Jung Chang (, ; born 25 March 1952) is a Chinese-born British author. She is best known for her family autobiography ''Wild Swans'', selling over 10 million copies worldwide but Censorship in China, banned in the China, People's Republic of Ch ...

, '' Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China'' (HarperCollins) * 1993

, '' Never Again: Britain 1945-1951'' (Jonathan Cape) * 1994 John Campbell, '' Edward Heath: A Biography'' (Jonathan Cape) * 1995 Mark Hudson, '' Coming Back Brockens: A Year in a Mining Village'' (Jonathan Cape) * 1996 Eric Lomax, '' The Railway Man'' (Jonathan Cape) * 1997

Orlando Figes Orlando Guy Figes (; born 20 November 1959) is a British and German historian and writer. He was a professor of history at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he was made Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 2022. Figes is known f ...

, '' A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924'' (Jonathan Cape)

References

{{NCR Corp Awards established in 1987 1987 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards disestablished in 1997 1997 disestablishments in the United Kingdom British non-fiction literary awards NCR Corporation