The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs today announced Lord Patten of Barnes, Chairman of the BBC Trust as the keynote speaker for the 2011 Business Book of the Year Award event in London on 3rd November. Lord Patten is Chancellor of Oxford University and Co-Chair of the UK-India Round Table, and was Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 until 1997, overseeing the return of Hong Kong to China.
This year’s award was launched in London at a breakfast debate hosted by Lionel Barber, Editor, Financial Times, and attended by heads of business, retail and publishing including Nigel Newton, Founder and CEO, Bloomsbury; Stefan McGrath, Managing Director, Penguin Press; and Caroline Michel, CEO, PFD. The topic “The Battle for Content: Who Owns What We Read – and Who Should Own It?” inspired lively debate, coverage of which can be seen at www.ft.com/bookaward
Lionel Barber, Editor, Financial Times will chair the distinguished panel of judges, which this year welcomes Vindi Banga, Partner, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Arthur Levitt, former Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The full list of judges comprises:
- Vindi Banga, Partner, Clayton Dubilier & Rice
- Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School
- Arthur Levitt, former Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
- Mario Monti, President of Bocconi University, Milan, European chairman of the Trilateral Commission, honorary president of Bruegel
- Jorma Ollila, Chairman of Nokia and Royal Dutch Shell
- Shriti Vadera, Director of Shriti Vadera Ltd, Non-Executive Director of BHP Billiton and AstraZeneca
Lionel Barber said: “We are delighted that Lord Patten has accepted our invitation to speak at this year’s event, and look forward to building on the success of the previous years’ awards.”
Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs and co-chair of the prize said: “The prize has established a strong track record of recognising well written and thought-provoking books on business, economic and management issues. I look forward to reading this year’s submissions.”
The Business Book of the Year Award is designed to highlight the book that provides the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics. Entries are invited from publishers of business books in the English language that are first published between 16th November 2010 and 15th November 2011. The deadline for entries is 30th June 2011 and the entry form is available online at www.ft.com/bookaward.
The judging panel will then select a shortlist of up to six authors, which will be announced in September.
The overall winner will be announced at the Awards Dinner co-hosted by Lionel Barber, Editor, Financial Times and Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc at The Wallace Collection in London on 3rd November 2011.
The winner of the Business Book of the Year Award 2011 will be awarded £30,000, and each of the remaining shortlisted authors will receive £10,000 each.
The 2010 Award was won by Raghuram Rajan for ‘Fault Lines’. The Award was presented at a dinner in New York, which was attended by more than 200 senior executives from the publishing and business communities. Winner of the 2009 Award was Liaquat Ahamed for ‘The Lords of Finance’; Mohamed El-Erian’s ‘When Markets Collide’ was the 2008 winner; William D. Cohan won the 2007 Award for ‘The Last Tycoons’; ‘China Shakes the World’ by James Kynge won the 2006 Award; and the winner of the inaugural Award in 2005 was Thomas Friedman for ‘The World Is Flat’.