The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs have unveiled the new panel of judges for the 2008 Business Book of the Year at a breakfast debate in London to launch this year’s Award.
The event was hosted by Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, and attended by key industry figures from business and publishing, including Luke Johnson, CEO, Risk Capital; Caroline Michel, CEO, PFD; and new judges Helen Alexander, The Economist Group and Niall Ferguson, Harvard University.
The judging panel for the 2008 Award comprises:
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Lionel Barber, editor, Financial Times.
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Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and CEO, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
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Niall Ferguson, the Laurence A. Tisch professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler professor at Harvard Business School.
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Mario Monti, president of the Bocconi University of Milan and the first chairman of Bruegel.
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Helen Alexander, CEO, The Economist Group.
“Never before has business held such a central position on the geo-political stage. The growth and continued success of the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Awards, which is now in its 4th year, reflects this, and I’m delighted to be judging the entries once again,” says Barber.
“We are looking forward to building on the success of the previous years’ awards and are delighted to welcome our new panel of distinguished judges,” adds Blankfein.
The Business Book of the Year Award is designed to highlight the book that provides the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics. Entries are invited from publishers of business books in the English language that are first published between 31st October 2007 and 1st November 2008.
The judging panel will then select a shortlist of up to six authors, which will be announced in September. The overall winner will be announced at a gala event in New York on 14 October 2008.
The winner of the Business Book of the Year Award will be awarded $30,000, and each of the remaining shortlisted authors will receive $5,000.
The 2007 Award was won by William D Cohan for ‘The Last Tycoons’. The Award was presented at a gala dinner in London, which was attended by over 200 senior executives from the publishing and business communities. ‘China Shakes the World’ by James Kynge won the 2006 Award, and winner of the inaugural award in 2005 was Thomas Friedman for his book ‘The World Is Flat’.