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Cundill History Prize

The Cundill History Prize is an annual Canadian book prize for "the best history writing in English". It was established in 2008 by Peter Cundill and is administered by McGill University. The prize encourages "informed public debate through the wider dissemination of history writing to new audiences around the world" and is awarded to an author whose book, published in the past year, demonstrates "historical scholarship, originality, literary quality and broad appeal". No restrictions are set on the topic of the book or the nationality of the author, and English translations are permitted.

At a value of US$75,000, the grand prize is the largest prize in the world for a work of non-fiction. In addition, two "Recognition of Excellence" prizes of $10,000 each are awarded. For translated works, 80% of the prize goes to the author, and 20% goes to the translator. The winners of the prizes are selected by a jury of prominent historians and writers chosen by McGill. The Cundill Prize has been called "the closest approximation to a Nobel Prize for history".

History

The Cundill International Prize in History was announced on April 17, 2008, at McGill University by Peter Cundill, a London-based investment manager and graduate of McGill. A grand prize of US$75,000, as well as two "Recognition of Excellence" prizes of $10,000, would be awarded once a year to authors whose books were "determined to have a profound literary, social and academic impact on the subject". Books were required to be published in English or French. Cundill said that he "was surprised to learn there were no major prizes in history" and added that "I'm an investment researcher of finance and I think there's an analogy between the two disciplines – both study the past to understand the present and predict the future." The inaugural prize in November 2008 was administered by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at McGill, along with the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC).

In 2010, the prize was renamed the Cundill Prize in History. Cundill died on January 24, 2011, and the 2011 prize was limited to books that were published in English. The prize was retitled again in 2013 as the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature, and the partnership with MISC continued up to 2016. McGill relaunched the prize for its 10th year in 2017: it was renamed the Cundill History Prize, and the prize's logo and website design were overhauled.