The Plutarch Award: Biography’s Highest Honor

Every year, thousands of biographies compete for readers’ attention — but only one earns the distinction of being judged the best by fellow biographers. That distinction belongs to the Plutarch Award, the premier international literary prize for biographical writing.

Origins: A Prize Born from a Community

The award takes its name from one of antiquity’s most celebrated writers. Plutarch, the ancient Greek biographer and philosopher, left an enduring legacy through his exploration of the lives of notable figures in ancient Greece and Rome. Ancient Origins His magnum opus, Parallel Lives, paired historical figures and examined their character through vivid narrative — an approach that set the template for biographical writing for centuries. Plutarch wrote not merely to chronicle famous lives, but to teach people how to live and inspire them towards virtue, CLT Journal a spirit that animates the award bearing his name.

The prize itself emerged from an organized effort to professionalize and celebrate biography as a literary form. In 2013, the BIO Board created the Plutarch Award, the first international literary award to be presented by biographers for the year’s best biography. Wikipedia was established under the umbrella of the Biographers International Organization (BIO), a nonprofit founded in 2010 by a committee of noted biographers led by James McGrath Morris. Initially selected by a vote of the membership, the Plutarch is now selected by a committee of noted biographers from a list of ten finalists. Wikipedia

Goals: Elevating the Art of Biography

The Plutarch Award is distinctive not only for what it honors but for who does the honoring. It is the only international literary award for biography judged exclusively by biographers. Biographersinternational This peer-review model lends the prize a particular authority — the judges are practitioners who understand the craft from the inside.

Named after the famous ancient Greek biographer, the Plutarch is awarded to the best biography of the year by a committee of five distinguished biographers from nominations

https://biographersinternational.org/award/the-plutarch/

by BIO members and publishers. As of 2025, the award comes with a $3,000 honorarium. Biographersinternational The judging criteria are clear and consistently applied: committees look for books that meet the standard for “the quality of research, the literary merit of the writing, and the originality and significance of the project.” Biographersinternational

A Decade-Plus of Distinguished Winners

For more than a decade, the award has recognized some of the most acclaimed biographies published in English. Past winners include Hermione Lee for Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life; Caroline Fraser for Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder; and Yepoka Yeebo for Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World. Kirkus Reviews

The 2025 cycle proved especially competitive. The 2025 Plutarch Committee reviewed close to 150 books by first-time and experienced biographers, issued by major presses and small academic publishers, on subjects who made their lives in worlds as different as ancient Rome and modern-day Hollywood. Biographersinternational Congratulations to Cynthia Carr and Lucy Hughes-Hallett, winners of the 2025 Plutarch Award for Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar and The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham, respectively. Biographersinternational

Looking ahead, the 2026 longlist has already been announced, with ten titles in contention. The winner will be announced during the 2026 BIO Conference, which will take place May 28 and 29 at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Biographersinternational

The Plutarch Award has, in little more than a decade, established itself as biography’s most authoritative peer honor — a fitting tribute to the ancient writer who first showed the world what a life, carefully told, could teach us.

Sources

1. Biographers International Organization. “The Plutarch Award.” biographersinternational.org. https://biographersinternational.org/award/the-plutarch/ 
2. Biographers International Organization. “Plutarch Award News & History.” biographersinternational.org. https://biographersinternational.org/topic/plutarch-award/ 
3. Schaub, Michael. “Finalists for the 2025 Plutarch Award Revealed.” Kirkus Reviews, April 29, 2025. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/finalists-for-the-2025-plutarch-award-revealed/
4. Biographers International Organization. “2025 Plutarch Award Shortlist Announced.” biographersinternational.org, April 22, 2025. https://biographersinternational.org/news/2025-plutarch-award-shortlist-announced/
5. CLT Journal. “Plutarch: The Purpose of History.” blog.cltexam.com, September 4, 2024. https://blog.cltexam.com/plutarch-the-purpose-of-history/
6. Ancient Origins. “The Legacy of Plutarch: One of the Greatest Minds of Ancient Greece.” ancient-origins.net. https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/plutarch-0020613