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The Aventis Prizes for Science Books is an annual award for the previous year's best general science writing and best science writing for children, sponsored by the Aventis Foundation. The nominees and winners are decided by the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science. The prizes were established in 1988.

It is generally considered to be the most prestigious science writing award, and is sometimes referred to as the Booker Prize of science writing. It was formerly known as the Rhône-Poulenc Prizes.

Judging Process

Entries are open to any book published in English in the preceding calendar year, that can be purchased in the UK. Two judging panels, one for the General Prize (for best general science writing) and one for the Junior Prize (for best science writing for young people up to the age of 14) assess the entries and select a longlist of around 12 books and then a shortlist of six books. The General Prize panel then select the winner. The winner of the Junior Prize is selected by panels of school-age children (a total of 800 in 75 groups for the 2005 Prizes). The winner in each category receives £10,000. £1000 per book is awarded to the authors of the remaining shortlisted books.

General Prize

This category is awarded to the best science writing for a non-specialist audience.

2006 Prizes

The winner of the 2006 Prize was announced on 16 May 2006.

  • Electric Universe - How Electricity Switched on the Modern World, by David Bodanis
The other nominees were:

  • Power, Sex, Suicide - Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, by Nick Lane
  • Empire of the Stars - Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, by Arthur I Miller
  • Parallel Worlds - The Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos, by Michio Kaku

It was Jared Diamond's third nomiantion for the prize, having won twice previously. The 2006 prize was the last one to be sponsored by the Aventis Foundation - the Royal Society are currently looking for a new sponsor.

2005 Winner

The winner was announced on May 12, 2005:

  • Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another, by Philip Ball ISBN 0374281254

The other nominees for 2005 were:

  • The Ancestor's Tale, by Richard Dawkins
  • Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older, by Douwe Draaisma
  • Matters Of Substance: Drugs - And Why Everyone's A User, by Griffith Edwards
  • The Earth: An Intimate History, by Richard Fortey
  • The Human Mind, by Robert Winston

2004 Winner

The winner was announced on June 14 2004:

The other nominees for 2004 were:

2003 Winner

Other nominees:

2002 Winner

Other nominees:

2001 Winner

Other nominees:

2000 Winner

Other nominees:

Pre-2000 Winners

Junior Prize

This category is awarded to the best science writing for children.

2006 Winner

  • The Global Garden by Kate Petty, Jennie Maizels, Corina Fletcher

2005 Winner

Other nominees for the Junior Prize:

  • Kingfisher Knowledge: Endangered Planet, by David Burnie
  • Mysteries And Marvels Of Science, by Phillip Clarke, Laura Howell, and Sarah Khan
  • Leap Through Time: Earthquake, by Nicholas Harris
  • Night Sky Atlas, by Robin Scagell
  • Kingfisher Knowledge: Microscopic Life, by Richard Walker

2004 Winner

Other nominees:

2003 Winner

Other nominees:

2002 Winner

Other nominees:

2001 Winner

Other nominees:

2000 Winner

Other nominees:

Pre-2000 Winners

External links

Books by award | Aventis Prize for Science Books | Children's literary awards | Sanofi-Aventis

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "The Aventis Prizes for Science Books".

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