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 | | Friday, 8 February, 2002, 10:08 GMT BBC Four to sponsor book prize  The Samuel Johnson prize was created in 1999 The BBC is to sponsor one of the country's leading non-fiction book awards, the Samuel Johnson prize. The deal will run over three years and the ceremony will be shown on the new arts and culture digital channel BBC Four. The deal comes after the corporation dropped coverage of this year's Whitbread Prize, normally carried by BBC Two but this year went untelevised. The Samuel Johnson prize was created in 1999 and this year it will be held in June. 'Commonality' Stuart Proffitt, chairman of the award committee, said he was delighted with the new deal. He said: "There is a real commonality of purpose between the prize and BBC Four and it makes perfect sense to join forces at this exciting time for us both." The award will now be renamed the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize For Non-Fiction. The prize is worth �30,000 for the winner with shortlisted writers earning �1,000 each.
It is open to books in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. Last year's winner was Michael Burleigh's The Third Reich: A New History. This single volume work is a radical re-examination of the Third Reich, which charts the rise of Nazi Germany, recreating life under a totalitarian dictatorship. The first winner in 1999 was Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. BBC Four replaces BBC Knowledge from 2 March. It will run from 1900 to 0100 nightly and be one of the corporation's three new non-subscription digital TV channels. The other two are channels for children - CBBC for children aged six to 13, and CBeebies for those aged under six years - and both are launched on Monday. Along with arts programmes, BBC Four will show documentaries and programmes covering science, history, news, debates and music. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Arts stories now:  Links to more Arts stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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