Juliet Du Boulay’s Cosmos, Life and Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Village (Denise Harvey Publishers) is this year’s winner of the Runciman Award for books published in 2009.
Announcing the Award at a ceremony held at the
Hellenic Centre on the 3rd June, the Chairman of the panel of judges,
Professor Elizabeth James, congratulated the author. Prof. James said of the book:
In 1974, Juliet Du Boulay published Portrait of a Greek Mountain Village, a book that is
now considered a classic text for the anthropology of Modern Greece. This
sequel adds new dimensions to this portrait. Although it looks back at the
village as it once was and presents a world that perhaps does not now exist,
nevertheless, it brings that village and those experiences to life, allowing the
reader to see some of the ways in which the beliefs of the past have shaped the
perceptions of the present. Prof. James also
praised the other short listed books, whose subject matter covers virtually
every period of culture and history from Homer to the present day. About thirty
books, on subjects ranging from Classical to Modern Greece, were submitted for
the £9000 prize, administered by the Anglo-Hellenic League and sponsored by the
National Bank of Greece. In addition to
the winner, the short list included: A. Kaldellis, The
Christian Parthenon (Cambridge University Press) P. Mackridge,
Language and National Identity in Greece (Oxford University Press) N. Necipoglu, Byzantium
Between the Ottomans and Latins (CUP) T. Rajak,
Translation and Survival (Oxford University Press) J. Robson,
Aristophanes (Duckworth) P. Stephenson,
Constantine (Faber & Faber)
A. Doxiadis. C. Papadimitriou, Logicomix (Bloomsbury) I. Jenkins, V. Turner, The Greek Body (British Museum Press)
The Chairman of the judges also mentioned in her
speech the following books who, although they did not qualify for the Award,
greatly impressed the judges:
V. Silver, The Lost Chalice: The Epic Hunt for a Priceless Masterpiece
(William Morrow & Company)
The Runciman Award, first conceived in 1983 during Lord Jellicoe’s chairmanship of the Anglo-Hellenic League, was presented for the first time in 1986 and named in honour of Sir Steven Runciman, the eminent Byzantine scholar and the League’s longest serving Chairman. It is given each year for a work wholly or mainly about some aspect of Greece or the world of Hellenism, published in English in its first edition in the previous year. The aim of the Award is to stimulate interest in Greek history and culture from earliest times to the present; to reward and encourage good and accessible writing, of which Sir Steven’s works are an example; and to promote wider knowledge and understanding of Greece’s contribution to civilization and values. The Judges will have these aims in mind, giving due weight to the criterion of increasing understanding of Greece’s contribution to civilization. No category of writing will be excluded from consideration. Thus, for example, the prize may be awarded for a work in the field of history, literary studies, biography, travel and topography, the arts, architecture, archaeology, the environment, social and political sciences or current affairs; or for a work of fiction, poetry or drama. Works in translation, with the exception of translations from Greek literature, will not be considered.
The prestige of the Runciman Award is reflected in the quality of its three judges. Each judge serves for three years, acting in the third year as Chair and then retiring so as to make way for a new judge. A fourth judge is nominated by the sponsor
The Runciman Award has received funding from private sources, business and institutions with an interest in the promotion of Greek Culture. Sponsors have included the Onassis Foundation and, since 1999, the National Bank of Greece. On average forty books per year are submitted for appraisal. How the prize is awarded is the responsibility of the judges, whose decision is final.
It is a condition of the Award that short-listed books should be available for purchase to readers in the UK at the time of the Award ceremony. Publishers of shortlisted books will be notified by the Anglo-Hellenic League
From 2006, the value of the Award rose to £9000, a substantial increase on previous years. This reflects the growing prestige of the prize and the related decision, taken in 2004 by the League in conjunction with the sponsors, the National Bank of Greece, to internationalise the award. It can now be awarded for a book published in any part of the world, provided it is first published in English, and meets the other criteria set out above.
Since 2002 the winner has received a medal in addition to the money prize. This was due to the close personal interest of the late Dr. Theodoros Karatzas, then Governor of the National Bank of Greece. The League remains indebted to the Bank for its strong support of the Award.