The 2018 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize

WINNER

I was delighted to have been invited to the 2018 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize announcement which took place at the beautiful surroundings of Blenheim Palace and the BBC TV’s Countryfilelive event. The day was just perfect with the event bathed in hot sunshine all day.

This year Countryfile’s Ellie Harrison made the announcement with Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Gove also giving a speech about nature and the environment in front of a packed audience.

With all the authors and illustrators present and in turn each giving a little talk about their book. You could almost feel the tension rise as the moment for the announcement came.

BBC TV’s Countryfile present Ellie Harrison announces the 2018 winning author and book.

 And so the winner of the 2018 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize went to:

The Seabird’s Cry by Adam Nicolson (William Collins)

Originally published in Hardback in June 2017 The Seabird’s Cry (William Collins, Harper Collins) is an incredible book dedicated to the lives of seabird’s. A strong environmental message comes out of this book that I said long before it won the Wainwright Book Prize that it was a natural history classic.

There are ten chapters each dedicated to a specific seabird. From Fulmar’s to Puffin’s Adam Nicolson follows their lives from the coastlines and islands of the UK to Norway, Iceland and the coastline of America. What Adam sees are numbers crashing. Seabirds that are majestic on the sea and in the air travel hundreds of thousands of miles each year to breed and then to spend winters travelling the sea’s.

Were once the numbers where in many thousands they are now at a shocking level that one day soon could be lost forever and we will be left remembering the mass of seabird colonies in the spring. This is not a threat it really is happening.

A superbly researched and beautifully written book with illustrations by Kate Boxer. The Seabird Cry now joins the illustrious previous winners of the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize.

416 Pages.

Adam Nicolson collects his prize as winning author for The Seabird’s Cry.

 Congratulations to Adam Nicolson but also to all the authors and illustrators who made the longlist and shortlist. This almost certainly was a tough decision to choose a winner and that is a testament to the sheer quality and resurgence of nature writing in the UK today.

My thanks go to Laura Creyke and everyone at Mark Hutchinson Management and also to Alastair Giles and the team at Agile Ideas for all their help and support.

The Wainwright Book Prize is named after the Lakelands much loved Alfred Wainwright, and is supported by White Lion Publishing (publisher of the world famous Wainwright Guides), Wainwright Golden Beer, the Wainwright Estate and in Partnership with The National Trust. The winner receives a cheque for £5,000.

For more information, visit The Wainwright Book Prize and you can follow on Twitter via: Wainwright Prize

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