The Lakeland Book of the Year, also known as the Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year, is an award named for the Lake District of north west England and given annually for a book, originally "set in or featuring Cumbria in some way". From 2026 the criterion is that "The author of the book should have strong connections to Cumbria, or the book itself must have a majority of Cumbria-related content." It was founded by writer Hunter Davies in 1984 and was administered by Cumbria Tourism until 2025. Davies was one of the judges from 1984 to 2022. In 2023, following Davies's retirement from the role, the judges were Fiona Armstrong, Eric Robson, Michael McGregor, director of Wordsworth Grasmere, Kathleen Jones and "guest judge" Rachel Laverack from Cumbria County Council. The prizes were traditionally announced at a gala lunch in June, although in 2020 the proceedings took place online because of COVID-19. Cumbria Tourism announced the dates for the 2025 award, but later announced that they were no longer organising the award. Archived version, 13 January 2025
From 2026 "The awards ... are now run by the Lakeland Book of the Year in association with a panel of distinguished trustees and judges." the trustees are Hunter Davies, Michael McGregor, author Kathleen Jones, Vicky Robinson, and Fiona Armstrong.
There are a number of awards for specific categories of books, and an overall winner is selected as the "Book of the Year". From the 2021 competition (for books published in 2020), and still for 2026, the categories were: Fiction Guides and Places Illustration and Presentation Landscape and Tradition Literature and Poetry People and Business
In 2023 a new prize for Children's Poem of the Year, sponsored by CGP Books was added, open to Cumbrian schoolchildren between key stages 2 and 5.
Winners
+ Year Author Title Publisher & ISBN Notes 1984 joint Menu booklet from charity luncheon at Armathwaite Hall Hotel, containing full list of previous winners AA/OS Guide to the Lake District AA/OS 1984 joint William Green of Ambleside: Lake District Artist (1760-1823) Abbot Hall Art Gallery on William Green 1985 Fellwalking with Wainwright Michael Joseph 18 favourite walks; new ed published 2006 1986/87 joint Lakeland from the Air Dalesman with foreword by Alfred Wainwright 1986/87 joint Walking with a Camera in Herries' Lakeland Fountain Press referring to Hugh Walpole's Herries Chronicles 1988 Victor Gollancz on the poet's wife Sara Fricker 1989 Country Diary Hodder & Stoughton Wilson wrote for "Country Diary" in The Guardian for 30 years 1990 Dream gardens: discovering the gardens of the Lake District Century 1991 Sutton editor is a descendant of Lady Anne 1992 Coleridge Walks the Fells: A Lakeland Journey Retraced Ellenbank retracing Coleridge's 1802 9-day walk 1993 Rocky Rambler's Wild Walker Cicerone 10 Lake District walks for children 1994 Chatto & Windus a 3rd ed was published in 2015 1995 Sutton author's great-uncle was Beatrix Potter's husband William Heelis 1996 Cumbrian Women Remember: Lake District Life in the Early 1900s Sutton 1997 Lakeland Press Agency on Woodrow Wilson's visits to the area: his mother was born in Carlisle 1998 Percy Kelly: a Cumbrian Artist Skiddaw on Percy Kelly 1999 Sam Bough, RSA: the Rivers in Bohemia Book Guild on Carlisle-born Sam Bough RSA 2000 Sigma Leisure autobiography 2001 Rex Malden's Whitehaven Try Malden photographs by John Malden's father, vicar of Whitehaven 2002 Cumbrian Mining Blue Rock in 2002 the author ran the Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum 2003 Cumbria Bird Club Cumbria Bird Club 2004 Lakeland life in the 1940s and 1950s : the photographs of Gwen Bertelsman Halsgrove Gwen Bertelsman ("Bertlesman" in many sources) died in 1994 2005 Lake Artists Society on the Lake Artists Society 2006 Frances Lincoln on Levens Hall 2007 Beatrix Potter: A Life In Nature Penguin on Beatrix Potter 2008 Gardens of the Lake District Frances Lincoln 2009 Ivver Sen: Lake District: The Life and Times of the Men and Women Who Work the Land River Greta Writer title means "Ever since" in Cumbrian dialect 2010 Hercules and the Farmer’s Wife; And Other Stories from a Cumbrian Art Gallery Aurum Press by owner of the Castlegate House Art Gallery in Cockermouth 2011 Sheila Fell: a Passion for Paint Lund Humphries on Sheila Fell 2012 joint Dear Mary, Love Percy: A Creative Thread - The Illustrated Letters of Percy Kelly to Mary Burkett 1968-1993 Skiddaw Press letters from Percy Kelly to Mary Burkett 2012 joint Jack's Yak: A Unique Journey Through Time with the Special Trees of the Lake District and Cumbria and the Remarkable Stories They Have to Tell River Greta Writer the title tree is an oak ("yak") on the Lowther estate 2013 Bookcase when Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens visited in 1857 and wrote The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices 2014 Undressed for Dinner Hayloft on turning Augill Castle into a hotel 2015 Allen Lane on sheep farming in Matterdale 2016 Lakeland Waterways: a history of travel along the English Lakes Lily Beale is a Windermere Lake Cruises skipper 2017 Jonathan Cape a walk through the Scottish Marches 2018 Portrait of Cumbria: Life and Landscape CN Group photographs 2019 Chitty Mouse Press on corpse roads 2020 Youtube video of the online event: announcement is at 33mins The Lake District in 101 Maps and Infographics Jake Island Announced online 30 June 2020, no gala lunch event, because of COVID-19. "The graphics cover just about everything people want to know or think they know about the Lakes". 2021 Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More HarperCollins autobiography 2022 Panic as Man Burns Crumpets: The Vanishing World of the Local Journalist Robinson autobiography 2023 Forty Farms: Conversations about change in the landscapes of Cumbria Jake Island photography2024 Some Of Us Just Fall Sceptre memoir2025 Cumbria, 1000 Years of MapsInspired by Lakeland 2026 HelmFaber novel personifying the Helm Wind
References
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