Judges

Hermione Lee was appointed Chair of Judges in 2020. A specially selected judging panel will be announced in November 2020, with the David Cohen Prize next awarded in November 2021.

Past judges

2019

Kate Maltby

Jon McGregor

David Park

Imtiaz Dharker

Viv Groskop

Dr Zoe Strimpel

Mark Lawson

Chair

2017

Kate Bassett

Gillian Clarke

Simon J. James

Alan Johnson

Mark Lawson

Chair

Denise Mina

Anita Sethi

2015

Gillian Beer

Adam Begley

Melissa Benn

Susannah Clapp

Mark Lawson

Chair

Blake Morrison

Leo Robson

Kamila Shamsie

Michael Symmons-Roberts

2013

Shirley Chew

Sarah Hall

Kathleen Jamie

Mark Lawson

Chair

Sam Leith

Fiona MacCarthy

Daljit Nagra

Kate Summerscale

Roy Williams

2011

Ellah Allfrey

Simon Armitage

Michael Billington

Sarah Churchwell

Tobias Hill

Kathryn Hughes

Mark Lawson

Chair

Karl Miller

Michael Prodger

2009

Rachel Bowlby

Robert Crawford

Lavinia Greenlaw

Maya Jaggi

Alberto Manguel

Jack Mapanje

Andrew Motion

Chair

Rose Tremain

John Walsh

2007

Liz Calder

Anne Enright

Jackie Kay

Hilary Mantel

Andrew Motion

Chair

Chris Smith

Peter Stothard

Boyd Tonkin

Jeremy Treglown

2005

Antony Beevor

Caroline Gascoigne

Maggie Gee

Martyn Goff

Jennifer Johnston

Doris Lessing

Andrew Motion

Chair

2003

Pat Barker

Gillian Beer

John Carey

Ciaran Carson

Damian Walford Davies

Anne Enright

Andrew Motion

Chair

Paul Muldoon

Michael Ondaatje

Philip Pullman

Michèle Roberts

Ali Smith

Stephen Tumim

Erica Wagner

2001

Claire Armitstead

Gillian Beer

Stevie Davies

Romesh Gunesekera

Catherine Lockerbie

Deborah Moggach

Andrew Motion

Chair

Alastair Niven

Glenn Patterson

Stephen Tumim

1999

Alain de Botton

Damian Walford Davies

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Roy Foster

Clare Francis

Tess Hurson

Hermione Lee

Catherine Lockerbie

Derwent May

Andrew Motion

Chair

Alan Ross

Janet Suzman

1997

Gillian Beer

Charles Brett

Simon Brett

Iain Crichton Smith

James Fenton

Miriam Gross

Griff Rhys Jones

Andrew Motion

Chair

Ben Okri

Peter Porter

Keith Thomas

M. Wynn Thomas

Claire Tomalin

1995

Joan Bakewell

Marilyn Butler

Donnell Deeny

James Fenton

Wilson Harris

Michael Holroyd

Chair

Miroslav Holub

The Lord Morris of Castle Morris

Blake Morrison

John Mortimer

Anthony Sampson

Mary-Kay Wilmers

Harriet Harvey Wood

1993

Eleanor Bron

Seamus Heaney

Michael Holroyd

Chair

Karl Miller

John Mortimer