The Lionel Gelber Prize is a literary award for English non-fiction books on foreign policy. Founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber, the prize honors "the world’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs that seeks to deepen public debate on significant international issues." A prize of CA$50000, is awarded to the winner. The award is presented annually by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Recipients are judged by an international jury of experts. In 1999, The Economist called the award "the world's most important award for non-fiction". Past winners have included, Lawrence Wright, Jonathan Spence, David McCullough, Kanan Makiya, Michael Ignatieff, Eric Hobsbawm, Robert Kinloch Massie, Adam Hochschild (a two-time winner), Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, Walter Russell Mead, Chrystia Freeland, and Steve Coll.

Lionel Gelber

Lionel Gelber was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in 1938. During this time he wrote The Rise of Anglo-American Friendship: a Study of World Politics 1898 to 1906, which examined the “rise of American global power, with all the risk, hope and complexity such a geopolitical shift entailed at the beginning of the 20th Century.” He followed this work with Peace by Power: The Plain Man’s Guide to the Key Issues of the War and the Post-War World in 1942 and America in Britain’s Place in 1961. During Gelber's 82 years as an author, scholar, historian, and diplomat, he wrote eight books and many articles on foreign relations. Gelber studied at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto before winning the Rhodes scholarship and beginning his studies at Balliol College at Oxford. In 1989, the Lionel Gelber prize was created to honor works published in Gelber's field.

List of award winners