J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards for Exceptional Works of Nonfiction

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The 2010 J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards for exceptional works of American nonfiction were presented at the Nieman Foundation on May 4, 2010. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and 1974 Nieman Fellow Ellen Goodman served as moderator of the event.

Established in 1998 and presented jointly each year by the Nieman Foundation and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, the Lukas Prize Project Awards, recognize excellence in nonfiction writing that exemplifies the work of J. Anthony Lukas, a 1969 Nieman Fellow and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

The project’s history prize is named for the late Mark Lynton, a business executive and author who was an avid proponent of history writing. The Lynton family has sponsored the Lukas Prize Project since its inception.

2010 winners and finalists

The J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize ($10,000) recognizes superb examples of nonfiction writing that exemplify literary grace, a commitment to serious research and social concern.

Winner:

  • David Finkel for The Good Soldiers (Sarah Crichton Books/ Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Finalists:
  • Beryl Satter for Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America (Metropolitan Books).
  • Patrick Radden Keefe for The Snakehead: An Epic tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream (Doubleday).
Judges for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize were Edward Alden, Ellen Goodman and Daniel Okrent.


The Mark Lynton History Prize ($10,000) is awarded to the book-length work of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression.

Winner:
  • James Davidson for The Greeks and Greek Love: A Bold New Exploration of the Ancient World (Random House)
Finalist:
  • Jenny Uglow for A Gambling Man: Charles II’s Restoration Game (Farrar Straus & Giroux).
Judges for the Mark Lynton History Prize were Timothy Brook, Andrew Meier and Laura Shapiro.


The J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award ($30,000) is given annually to aid in the completion of a significant work of nonfictionon an American topic of political or social concern.

Winner:
  • Jonathan Schuppe for Ghetto Ball: A Coach, His Team, and the Struggle of an American City (to be published by Henry Holt)
Finalist:
  • David Philipps, for Lethal Warriors: War, Murder, and the Fight to Save a Generation on the Home Front (to be published by Palgrave Macmillan).
Judges for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award were Leslie Garis, Robin Marantz Henig and Craig Unger.