Book Award

Applications will open on 10 March 2025 and close on 22 June 2025.

This award recognises high standards of published works in psychology, with nominees able to nominate books in any of the following categories:

Academic monograph – a significant scholarly work, usually by a single author that has contributed to, defined or redefined an area of psychological knowledge.
Practitioner texts – a manual, reference or handbook, that has made a significant impact in expounding and promulgating an evidence-based approach, to an area of practice of psychology.
Textbook – an instructional text or manual on one area of psychological knowledge or on psychology more generally for the specific purpose of contributing to a course of psychological study that has made a significant impact on the learning and teaching of psychology.
Popular science – an exposition of an area of psychology or psychology more generally, written in an accessible way and aimed at the general reader.

Each category will receive one award.

The award includes a commemorative certificate and the sum of £500.

Please note: the £500 prize is awarded per book, not per author.

Deadline

Nominations open on 10 March 2025 at 9:00am
Nominations close on 22 June 2025 at 11:59pm

Please note: This is an annual award.

Application criteria

Nominations must meet the following eligibility criteria:

The author or at least one co-author must be resident in the UK.
We can only accept nominations for books published after 01 January 2020.
The book must be consistent with the society's Guidelines on The Use of Non-Sexist Language (copies of which are available on request).
Only first editions of a book are considered.
Edited collections of papers are not eligible.
Books published by the society under the partnership with Routledge are not eligible.

The panel will assess each book on how successful it has been in achieving its purposes. As well as:

The engagement of the writing style.
Whether the book communicates aspects of psychological science, such as presenting some research details, including findings and not just conclusions.
Accuracy of content with no misleading claims or outdated theories.

Nominators must declare all personal and professional conflicts of interest – e.g. if nominating a spouse/partner or other relation.
A conflict of interest will not prevent acceptance of the nomination but will be borne in mind by the awarding panel when considering the award.
If we become aware of a conflict of interest that you have not declared, we will have to discount the nomination.

How to apply

Nomination forms must be completed and submitted online.

Please read the following information before submitting your nomination.

Nominators can make up to a maximum of two nominations in each category (please submit nominations separately).
Individuals, authors, publishers, or their agents may make a nomination.
Nomination submissions must include the title of the book; the category in which it is being nominated; the name(s) and full contact details (including email address) of the author(s) and the publisher and the date of publication.

Please include a statement (approximately one side of A4), explaining:

Why the author(s) should receive the Book Award
Why the book is relevant now, what new issues/approaches it includes and how it differs from previous publications.
What is the focus of evidence (e.g. theoretical discussions or experimental research, case studies supported by previous work, the author's own research etc.).
Who the intended audience is and why they should read it.
How the book will enhance knowledge, research, practice, or day-to-day life.

Please note: if you are re-submitting a nomination from a previous year, please include reviews that have been published in the period following the initial submission.

Reviews from online journals are acceptable. However, non-peer-reviewed ratings e.g. Amazon reviews are not accepted.
Please provide an electronic copy of the book. This will greatly assist the panel.
If we do not receive any books of sufficient merit within a category, we reserve the right to make no award.

Submit a nomination

The deadline for submissions is 22 June 2025 at 11:59pm

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

Please note: We cannot accept late nominations.

2024

Academic Monograph Category - Chris Frith and Uta Frith
What Makes Us Social?
Popular Science Category - Professor Pete Etchells
Unlocked: The real science of screen time (and how to spend it better)
Popular Science Category - Dr Monty Lyman
The Immune Mind: The New Science of Health
Textbook Category - Dr Charlotte R. Pennington
A Student's Guide to Open Science: Using the Replication Crisis to Reform Psychology

2023

Academic Monograph Category - Stephen Frosh
Those Who Come After: Postmemory, Acknowledgement and Forgiveness
Popular Science Category - Ben Alderson Day
Presence: The strange science and true stories of the unseen other
Popular Science Category - Sander van der Linden
FOOLPROOF: Why We Fall for Misinformation and How to Build Immunity
Textbook Category - Val Wilson
Psychology in Diabetes care and Practice
Textbook Category - Madeleine Pownall and Wendy Stainton Rogers
A Feminist Companion to Social Psychology

2022

Popular Science category - David Robson
The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life
Textbook category - Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke
Thematic Analysis: A Practical

2021

Popular Science category - Rory O'Connor
When It Is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do to Prevent It
Academic Monograph category - Sarah Riley; Adrienne Evans and Martine Robson
Post feminism and Health: Critical Psychology and Media Perspectives
Textbook category - Camilla Gilmore; Silke Goebel and Matthew Inglis
An Introduction to Mathematical Cognition
Practitioner Text category - Maggi Evans; John Arnold and Andrew Rothwell
From Talent Management to Talent Liberation: A Practical Guide for Professionals, Managers and Leaders

2020

Popular Science category - Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Inventing Ourselves
Textbook category - Alexander Haslam; Catherine Haslam; Jolanda Jetten; Tegan Cruwys and Genevieve Dingle
The New Psychology of Health

2019

Popular Science category - Alan Baddeley
Working Memories: Postmen, Divers and Cognitive Revolution
Academic Monograph category - Elisabeth Murray; Steven Wise and Kim Grahami
The Evolution of memory systems: ancestors, anatomy and adaptions
Textbook category - Colin Cooper
Psychological Testing: Theory and Practice
Practitioner Text category - Jill Boucher
Autism Spectrum Disorder: Characteristics, Causes and Practical Issues

2018

Popular Science category - Tali Sharot
The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others
Textbook category - Jennifer Brown, Yvonne Shell and Terri Cole
Forensic Psychology: Theory, Research, Policy, Practice
Academic Monograph category - Chris Chambers
The Seven Deadly Sins of Psychology: A Manifesto for Reforming the Culture of Scientific Practice

2017

Popular Science category - Barbara J Sahakian and Julia Gottwald
How fMRI reveals what really goes on in our minds
Textbook category - Professor Julie Turner-Cobb
Child Health Psychology: A Biopsychosocial Perspective
Practitioner Text category - Tammi Walker and Graham Towl
Preventing self-injury and suicide in women's prisons
Academic Monograph category - Kevin N Laland
Darwin's Unfinished Symphony: How culture made the human mind

2016

Popular Science category - Richard Stephens
Black Sheep: The Hidden Benefits of Being Bad
Textbook category - Andrew P. Wickens
A History of the Brain: From Stone Age Surgery to Modern Neuroscience
Practitioner Text category - Rudi Coetzer and Ross Balchin
Working with Brain Injury - A Primer for Psychologists Working in Under-Resourced Settings
Academic Monograph category - Susan Golombok
Modern Families: Parents and Children in New Family Forms

2015

Popular Science category - Michael Bond
The Power of Others: Peer Pressure, Groupthink, and How the People Around Us Shape Everything We do
Textbook category - Lynne Murray
The Psychology of Babies

2014

Popular Science category - Tali Sharot
The Optimism Bias... Why We're Wired to Look on the Bright Side
Textbook category - John Cromby, David Harper, and Paula Reavey
Psychology, Mental Health, and Distress

2013

Popular Science category - Claudia Hammond
Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception
Textbook category - Victoria Clarke, Sonja J. Ellis, Elizabeth Peel, and Damien W. Riggs
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Psychology: An Introduction
Practitioner Text category - Emma Donaldson-Feilder, Joanna Yarker, and Rachel Lewis
Preventing Stress in Organizations: How to Develop Positive Managers
Academic Monograph category - Claire Hughes
Social Understanding and Social Lives: From Toddlerhood Through to the Transition to School