The Booker Prizes

The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, is a literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained English fiction which was published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious literary awards, and the winner receives £50,000, as well as international publicity that usually leads to a significant sales boost. When the prize was created, only novels written by Commonwealth, Irish and South African citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014, eligibility was widened to any English-language novel—a change that proved controversial. A five-person panel of authors, publishers and journalists, as well as politicians, actors, artists and musicians, is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation each year to choose the winning book. Gaby Wood has been the chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation since 2015. A high-profile literary award in British culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with anticipation and fanfare around the world.