The winners are chosen by research and teaching staff within the Department of English and Scottish Literature at the university, who are assisted by postgraduate students in the shortlisting phase, a structure that is seen to lend the prizes considerable gravitas. At the award of the 2006 prizes, at which
Cormac McCarthy was a winner, McCarthy's publisher commented positively on the selection process, noting that, in the absence of a sponsor and literary or media figures amongst the judging panel, the decision is made by "students and professors, whose only real agenda can be great books and great writing". The original endowment is now supplemented by the university and, as a consequence, the total prize fund rose from 2005 awards. Each of the two annual prizes—one for fiction and one for biography—is worth £10,000. The university is advised in relation to the development and administration of the Prize by a small committee which includes
Ian Rankin,
Alexander McCall Smith and
James Naughtie amongst its members. In August 2007 the prize ceremony was held at the
Edinburgh International Book Festival for the first time.
Eligibility For the book prizes works of fiction and biographies must be written in English. The nationality of the author does not matter, but submissions must be first published (or co-published) in Britain during the calendar year of the award. Any given author can only win each prize once. However, he or she can win both prizes at the same time. For the drama category, the work had to be originally written in either English, Gaelic or Welsh, be produced first during the previous calendar year, have a playing time over one hour, and to have been performed no fewer than seven times by a professional theatre company. == List of recipients ==