Wildlife cameraman James Aldred, who has collaborated with David Attenborough, has been named the winner of the James Cropper Wainwright nature writing prize, while the award’s inaugural children’s writing prize has gone to two brothers writing about climate change.
Aldred’s book Goshawk Summer is a diary of his time spent observing a family of goshawks in the New Forest in southern England. Originally commissioned at the start of 2020 to film the lives of the goshawks, Aldred was granted permission to continue when lockdown struck.
The TV presenter Ray Mears, chair of the judges, said the book was a “beautiful inspirational tale set in an extraordinary time”.
“Nature is abundant all around us, if only we could take the time to really look for it,” Mears said. “This wonderful book shows us how.”
Mears was joined on the judging panel by Hugh Thomson, a previous winner of the prize; author Raynor Winn, who has been shortlisted twice; Craig Bennett, chief executive of UK Wildlife Trusts; bookseller Caroline Morris, and TV presenter and author Sanjida O’Connell.
The judges highly commended Otherlands: A World in the Making by Dr Thomas Halliday, a history of life on Earth, and On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging by Guardian country diarist Nicola Chester, about the political and environmental changes imposed on the land she loves.
The prize for children’s writing on nature and conservation was awarded to brothers Rob and Tom Sears for The Biggest Footprint. Their illustrated book reimagines humanity as one massive giant and looks at the damage it has inflicted on the planet and how this might be fixed.
The book was described by chair of children’s judges Gemma Hunt, a presenter on CBBC, as “totally unique and highly innovative”. “It’s an empowering, insightful tale that helps us all, at any age, understand and take ownership of the biggest threat of our lifetime,” she added.
Hunt was joined on the judging panel by John McClay, Bath children’s literary festival director; Mark Funnell, communication and campaign director at the National Trust; bookseller Tamara Macfarlane; librarian Sarah Davis, and ethical children’s clothing manufacturer Charlotte Morley.
The judges highly commended Katya Balen’s novel October, October, illustrated by Angela Harding, which won the Yoto Carnegie medal this year.
Dan Saladino, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, won the prize for writing on conservation with his investigation into food biodiversity, Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them.
BBC Countryfile presenter Charlotte Smith chaired the panel of judges for the conservation prize, which included Mark Cropper, chair of headline sponsor James Cropper; Anita Longley, former chair of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability; children’s blogger Lizzie Carr; leading environmentalist Sir John Lawton, and wildlife photographer and blogger Harry Skeggs.
Smith said Eating to Extinction was encyclopaedic in scope. “It was at turns highly original, engrossing, fascinating and very clever,” she said. “It offered enormous insight into where food comes from on a global level and offers clear, gently expressed solutions – it gave us enormous hope for the future.”
Highly commended in the category was Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm by Lee Schofield.
The winners, announced at a ceremony at the London Wetland Centre in Barnes, will share a £7,500 prize fund and each receive a specially commissioned original artwork by paper artist Helen Musselwhite.
Former winners of the nature writing prize include James Rebanks and Dara McAnulty.
Goshawk Summer by James Aldred (Elliott & Thompson, £14.99). To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
