SHORTLIST
Winner announcement 16th March 2026
SHORTLIST
Winner announcement 16th March 2026
The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize celebrates the best non-fiction published in the UK, honouring books that combine imaginative insight, strong research and compelling narrative.
The first award was made in 1956 in memory of the statesman and writer Alfred Duff Cooper (1890 – 1954) : it has been given annually ever since.
The winner, announced this year on March 3, receives £5,000 and a magnum of Pol Roger Champagne.
HAIL FRIEND AND READ
Part of the Latin inscription on the frieze of the Duff Cooper Library in the British Embassy, Paris. The full text, by André de Staerke and Patrick Leigh Fermor in 1958, translates as ‘Duff Cooper, fortunate Ambassador to France, dedicated this place to the silent friendship of books so that readers might be numbered among his friends. Hail, friend, and read’.
The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize celebrates the best in non-fiction writing.
The first award was made in 1956, in honour of the statesman and writer Alfred Duff Cooper, and it has been given annually ever since.
The Prize honours excellence in the genres relished by its namesake, including history, biography, travel writing, politics, poetry and literary criticism.
Hail friend and read
Part of the Latin inscription on the frieze of the Duff Cooper Library in the British Embassy, Paris. The full text, composed by André de Staerke and Patrick Leigh Fermor in 1958, translates as ‘Duff Cooper, fortunate Ambassador to France, dedicated this place to the silent friendship of books so that readers might be numbered among his friends. Hail, friend, and read’.
Alfred Duff Cooper (1890 – 1954) statesman, diplomat and author, won the DSO as a second lieutenant in the First World War, and entered Parliament in 1923.
His life was devoted to politics until 1938 when, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he resigned in protest at the Munich Agreement.
Called back to office by Churchill in 1940, his wartime career culminated in his appointment as Ambassador to France.
Among his best-known books are Talleyrand, Operation Heartbreak and his autobiography, Old Men Forget.
Wine has lit up for me the pages of literature, and revealed in life romance lurking in the commonplace.
DUFF COOPER
Old Men Forget
OUR HOME
OUR SPONSOR
NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD
New College is the home of the Duff Cooper Memorial Fund, the charity responsible for the Prize. Duff Cooper read History at the college in 1908, and benefited from its culture of tolerance, its remarkable library and the wide learning of its tutors.
The Warden of New College is among the Prize’s five judges.
POL ROGER
The Prize is generously supported by Pol Roger, which supplies the Champagne for the annual awards ceremony and contributes towards the £5,000 prize money. The Pol Roger connection dates back to 11 November 1944, when, as Ambassador to newly liberated France, Duff Cooper served the 1928 vintage at an Armistice dinner for Churchill and de Gaulle. A year later, Duff introduced Churchill and Odette Pol Roger, who became lifelong friends.
