1) The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize has a turbulent history. The prize came into being after the NCR prize fell into disrepute. Originally kept afloat courtesy of an anonymous donor, the BBC began sponsoring the prize in 2002 through its new channel BBC Four. This year, as part of the BBC’s Year of Books, a special show will be aired exploring each of the six shortlisted writers for 2011 and announcing the winner.
2) The prize has the biggest victory pot of any non-fiction prize in the UK, with prize money of £20,000. Such a heady sum, however, still falls well short of its competition in the fiction prize stakes: the Man Booker winner gets a cheque for £50,000, the Costa Prize jackpot (for the Book of the Year winner) is £35,000 and the Orange prize victor takes home
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