Submissions wanted (biographies, no-fee writing contest) | £5,000 top prize

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

Deadline: 30 September 2025

Celebrated author, Antonia Fraser, and fellow historical biographers and historians launch a new contest for younger writers:

Elizabeth Longford Brief Lives 2025 Essay Award, worth £2000

ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY: A NEW INITIATIVE

See clhb.uk/brieflives for more information

The jury of the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography founded in 2003, all eminent historical biographers and historians, are to also judge a new essay prize worth £2000, open to younger writers. The panel consists of Professor Roy Foster (Chair of Judges), Flora Fraser, Antonia Fraser (Elizabeth Longford’s daughter), Richard Davenport-Hines, and Professor Rana Mitter. The winning essay will be considered for subsequent publication in the Times Literary Supplement.

The Brief Lives 2025 Essay Award marks more than two decades since the Elizabeth Longford Historical Biography Prize, worth £5000, was founded in 2003 by Peter Soros and Flora Fraser in affectionate memory of her grandmother. Recent winners include books by Julian Jackson on de Gaulle, Jackie Wullschläger on Monet and Ramachandra Guha’s Rebels Against the Raj.

Flora and Peter are now sponsoring the Elizabeth Longford Brief Lives 2025 Essay Award, intended to encourage a succinct but penetrating approach to historical biography, as pioneered by John Aubrey. Submissions for the new Award should also embody the qualities of scholarship and strong narrative drive which distinguish Elizabeth Longford’s own work and that of recipients of the ELHB Prize.

The Brief Lives 2025 Essay Award is open to writers aged 35 and younger in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Essays may be submitted from now until 30 September 2025 inclusive. The word limit is 3,000 or fewer, and the biographical subject, or subjects, should be historical figures of significance.

See clhb.uk/brieflives for more details about the Award, including eligibility.

Submissions for the Elizabeth Longford Brief Lives 2025 Essay Award to be made in pdf form, to:
brief.lives@clhb.uk

The Essay Award winner will be announced at an Elizabeth Longford Night of History at the NPG on 26 January 2026. This evening at the London National Portrait Gallery will incorporate a panel discussion by leading practitioners of historical biography and a reception.

Chair of Judges, Professor Roy Foster, says, “The Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography has fostered a greater appreciation of historical biography as a genre and of the significant role it plays in helping us understand both the past and the present. The Elizabeth Longford Brief Lives 2025 Essay Award similarly seeks to reward younger writers who can offer new insights and bring historical figures vividly to life within a short compass.”

Flora Fraser says, “My grandmother was passionate about encouraging younger authors to write and explore the art of historical biography. We hope that this new award will motivate a new generation to research and write about the past with depth and imagination. We are very much looking forward to receiving and reading submissions.”

Further details about the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography can be found at clhb.uk
It celebrates life-writing in the English language and honours outstanding works of historical biography, which combine rigorous scholarship with narrative flair.

See clhb.uk/Elizabeth-Longford for more about the pioneering historical biographer (1906–2002), who was known for her empathy with subjects such as Queen Victoria and the first Duke of Wellington, her thorough research and her accessible writing style.

See clhb.uk/winners for a rollcall of winning books and authors from 2003 to 2025. They include many celebrated volumes, including Rosemary Hill on Pugin, Julian Jackson on de Gaulle, Frances Wilson on Bruce Ismay and the Titanic, Ramachandra Guha’s Rebels Against the Raj, Fredrik Logevall’s JFK: I, Anne Somerset’s Queen Anne and Ben Macintyre on Kim Philby.

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CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

Questions/submissions: brief.lives@clhb.uk

Website: https://elhb.uk

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