By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Major University Presses Published the Winners
The 2020 PROSE Awards for scholarly publications—having produced what are probably the world’s lengthiest long- and shortlists—today (February 25) have released a five-title list of top winners, one for each of the five top-level divisions in which the awards are given:- Biological and Life Sciences
- Humanities
- Physical Sciences and Mathematics
- Reference Works
- Social Sciences
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, the PROSE Awards are produced by the Association of American Publishers’ 2020 PROSE Awards.
The name of the program, PROSE, stands for Professional and Scholarly Excellence. These awards recognize scholarly works published in the United States in the arts, humanities, biological and physical sciences, reference, and social sciences. And the works eligible for contention in this cycle of the program have to have been copyrighted in 2019.
In a prepared statement, Maria A. Pallante, president and CEO of the association, is quoted today, saying, “This year’s five award winners are each, in its own way, extraordinary works that represent the very best in class in the arts, humanities, and science publishing.
Maria A. Pallante
“With this announcement, the houses that brought these works into the world—Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press, Stanford University Press and Yale University Press—are being honored for the extraordinary role they have played in identifying and nurturing the authors who created this year’s Excellence winners, and for their critically important contributions to the advancement of learning, knowledge, and understanding.”
The 157-title longlist can be reviewed here. The 49 category winners under the five divisions are here.
A panel of 19 jurors were used to review the more-than 630 entries for this year’s program. Nigel Fletcher-Jones, who directs the program and leads the jury, is quoted saying, “The collective winners of the awards—authors, editors, and publishers—should be immensely proud of their remarkable achievement in a year of record submissions to the PROSE Awards.”
2020 Prose Award Winners
PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological & Life Sciences
- Clinical Psychopharmacology: Principles and Practice, Nassir Ghaemi, Oxford University Press
2020 PROSE Award in Humanities
- Leonardo da Vinci Rediscovered, Carmen C. Bambach, Yale University Press
PROSE Award in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
- 99 Variations on a Proof, Philip Ording, Princeton University Press
PROSE Award in Reference Works
- Roman Architecture and Urbanism: From the Origins to Late Antiquity, Fikret Yegül, Diane Favro, Cambridge University Press
PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Sciences
- The Cult of the Constitution, Mary Anne Franks, Stanford University Press
Just for the record, at list price, a print copy of each of these books would cost a total US$915. The most expensive, predictably for art books, is the Leonardo book by Carmen Bambach, which has a publisher’s retail list price of $550. The least expensive is Philip Ording’s 99 Variations, at $24.95.
The top winner drawn from this group of five is awarded the RR Hawkins honor, and that recipient is to be celebrated on June 23.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Association of American Publishers is here, more on digital publishing is here, and more on publishing and book awards is here.