The Duff Cooper Prize (currently known as the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize) is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of history, biography, political science or occasionally poetry, published in English or French. The prize was established in honour of Duff Cooper, a British diplomat, Cabinet member and author. The prize was first awarded in 1956 to Alan Moorehead for his Gallipoli. At present, the winner receives a first edition copy of Duff Cooper's autobiography Old Men Forget and a cheque for £5,000.

Overview

After Duff Cooper's death in 1954, a group of his friends decided to establish a trust to endow a literary prize in his memory. The trust appoints five judges. Two of them are ex officio: the Warden of New College, Oxford, and a member of Duff Cooper's family (initially, Duff Cooper's son, John Julius Norwich for the first thirty-six years, and then John Julius' daughter, Artemis Cooper). The other three judges appointed by the trust serve for five years and they appoint their own successors. The first three judges were Maurice Bowra, Cyril Connolly and Raymond Mortimer. At present, the three appointed judges are biographer Mark Amory, historian Susan Brigden, and TLS history editor David Horspool.

From 2013, the prize has been known as The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize, following a sponsorship by Pol Roger.[1]

Winners

Duff Cooper Prize winners[2]
YearAuthorTitleRef.
1956Gallipoli
1957Bitter Lemons
1958Collected Poems
1959Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese
1960Collected Poems
1961Joseph Conrad
1962The Franco-Prussian War
1963John Keats: The Making of a Poet[3][4]
1964The World of the Shining Prince
1965Marcel Proust
1966The Continent of Circe[5]
1967The Peregrine[6]
1968New Poems
1969The Man of Letters
1970Charles of Orleans: Prince & Poet
1971Discoveries of Bones and Stones
1972Virginia Woolf
1973Alexander the Great
1974Wilfred Owen
1975North
1976Mussolini's Roman Empire
1977Missing Persons
1978Life in the English Country House
1979Tenebrae
1980Tennyson, The Unquiet Heart
1981Edith Sitwell: A Unicorn Among the Lions
1982James Joyce
1983Collected Poems
1984Ivy When Young: The Early Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett 1884-1919
1985Edmund Gosse: A Literary Landscape, 1849-1928
1986C. R. Ashbee: Architect, Designer, and Romantic Socialist
1987The Fatal Shore
1988A Serious Character: The Life of Ezra Pound
1989Federico Garcia Lorca
1990and Mirabel CecilClever Hearts: Desmond and Molly Maccarthy: A Biography
1991Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius
1992Never Again: Britain, 1945-1951
1993A History of Warfare
1994Curzon: Imperial Statesman
1995Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth
1996Thomas Cranmer: A Life
1997Frozen Desire: An Inquiry into the Meaning of Money
1998Coleridge: Darker Reflections
1999King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa
2000John Maynard Keynes
2001Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War[7]
2002The Architect and His Wife[8]
2003Gulag: A History[9]
2004Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950[10]
2005Edge of Empire: Conquest and Collecting on the Eastern Frontiers of the British Empire[11]
2006The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857[12]
2007The Discovery of France
2008and Martin J. SherwinAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer[13]
2009Trotsky: A Biography[14]
2010How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer[15]
2011Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist[16]
2012Strindberg: A Life[17][18]
2013The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War[19]
2014Other People's Countries: A Journey into Memory
2015Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession[20][21]
2016Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts[22][23]
2017Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine[24][25]
2018A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles De Gaulle[26]
2019A History of the Bible[27][28]
2020Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Empire[29][30]
2021The Greek Revolution: 1821 and the Making of Modern Europe[31]
2022The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown[32][33]
2023France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain[34]
2024Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin[35]
2025Allies at War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler[36]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Champagne days for winners of the Duff Cooper Prize". London Evening Standard. February 21, 2013. Archived May 26, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  2. ^ "1956 - 2016". The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  3. ^ "Obituary Notes: Aileen Ward; Steve Wolfe". Shelf Awareness. 2016-06-14. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  4. ^ "Woman Is First From U.S. To Win Duff Cooper Prize". The New York Times. 1963-12-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  5. ^ "Famous English author Nirad C Chaudhuri was the first Indian to receive this award". India Today. 2018-11-23. Archived 2022-05-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  6. ^ "J. A. Baker". Little Toller Books. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  7. ^ "Margaret Olwen MacMillan". Global Affairs Canada. 2019-04-25. Archived 2022-09-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  8. ^ "Lutyens Biography Wins The Duff Cooper Prize". The Lutyens Trust. Summer 2003. Archived 2022-06-30 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  9. ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (2018-05-11). "Applebaum wins Duff Cooper Prize for a second time". The Bookseller. Archived 2022-11-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  10. ^ "British Philhellene Mark Mazower Granted Honorary Greek Citizenship". Greek City Times. 2021-09-23. Archived 2022-12-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  11. ^ "Maya Jasanoff". Harvard University. Archived 2020-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  12. ^ "William Dalrymple". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived 2022-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  13. ^ "Kai Bird - Medill - Northwestern University". Medill-Northwestern University. Archived 2022-12-30 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  14. ^ "Hoover Fellow Robert Service Awarded Duff Cooper Prize". Hoover Institution. 2010-03-16. Archived 2021-12-06 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  15. ^ Spencer, Clare (2011-03-08). "Sarah Bakewell wins 2011 Duff Cooper prize | Creative Writing Tutors". Open University. Archived 2021-06-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  16. ^ Blackburn, David (2012-03-01). "Dickens takes the Duff Cooper Prize". The Spectator. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  17. ^ "Awards: Duff Cooper Prize; Bodley Medal". Shelf Awareness. 2013-02-26. Archived 2022-01-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  18. ^ "Champagne days for winners of the Duff Cooper Prize". Evening Standard. 2013-02-21. Archived 2020-05-26 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  19. ^ "Awards: Duff Cooper Winner; Stella Longlist". Shelf Awareness. 2014-02-14. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  20. ^ "Awards: L.A. Times Book Finalists; Duff Cooper Winner". Shelf Awareness. 2016-02-24. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  21. ^ Wright, Katy (2016-02-23). "Bostridge wins the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize". Rhinegold. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  22. ^ "Awards: Rilke for Poetry; Lukas, Lynton; Pol Roger Duff Cooper". Shelf Awareness. 2017-02-22. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  23. ^ "The Duff Cooper Prize 2016". Corpus Christi College University of Cambridge. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  24. ^ "Awards: International Dylan Thomas; Pol Roger Duff Cooper". Shelf Awareness. 2018-05-14. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  25. ^ "New College awards Duff Cooper prize to Red Famine writer". Oxford Mail. 2018-05-11. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  26. ^ "Queen Mary Professor awarded prestigious Duff Cooper Prize". Queen Mary University of London. 2019-02-21. Archived 2022-08-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  27. ^ "Awards: Astrid Lindgren, Duff Cooper, Republic of Consciousness Winners; Christian Book Finalists". Shelf Awareness. 2020-04-02. Archived 2023-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  28. ^ "John Barton wins Duff Cooper Prize 2019". The Times of India. 2020-04-01. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived 2020-05-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  29. ^ "Awards: Andrew Carnegie Medal, Pol Roger Duff Cooper Winners". Shelf Awareness. 2021-02-05. Archived 2022-12-09 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  30. ^ Comerford, Ruth (2021-02-01). "Herrin's Ravenna wins Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize". The Bookseller. Archived 2021-05-14 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  31. ^ "Mark Mazower Awarded 2021 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize". The Harriman Institute. 2022-04-21. Archived 2022-12-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  32. ^ Brown, Lauren (2023-03-06). "Anna Keay wins £5,000 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize for The Restless Republic". The Bookseller. Archived 2023-03-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  33. ^ Kan, Toni (2023-03-07). "Anna Keay's "The Restless Republic" wins £5,000 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize". The Lagos Review. Archived 2023-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  34. ^ Bayley, Sian (2024-03-04). "Julian Jackson wins £5k Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  35. ^ Snow, Maia (2025-03-03). "Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize awarded to Sue Prideaux for biography of artist Paul Gauguin". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  36. ^ Spanoudi, Melina (2025-03-16). "Tim Bouverie wins £5k Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2026-05-24.