Sponsorship

Man’s literary sponsorships

The Man Booker Prize

Man sponsors three major literary prizes – The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, the Man Booker international Prize and the Man Asian Literary Prize.

Man’s first sponsorship of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction was in 2002. The aim of the prize, which receives worldwide press attention, is to promote excellence in fiction by recognising the best full-length novel published by a citizen of the Commonwealth, or the Republic of Ireland, in the year of the prize. The novel must be an original, non-self published, work in English.
Winning the Man Booker Prize is considered the ultimate accolade by many writers. As former prize-winner Graham Swift commented:

"Prizes don't make writers and writers don't write to win prizes, but in the near-glut of literary awards now on offer… it's the one which, if we're completely honest, we most covet."

Recent winners have included Julian Barnes for The Sense of an Ending (2011), Howard Jacobson for the Finkler Question (2010) and Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall (2009). Dame Stella Rimington, Chair of the 2011 judges, made the announcement that Julian Barnes was the latest recipient on October 18th 2011 at a televised awards dinner hosted at the Guildhall. Man Chairman Jon Aisbitt announced the same night that Man had just signed a new 10-year sponsorship agreement with the Booker foundation.

The Man Booker International Prize

The Man Booker International Prize went in 2011 to US author Philip Roth. The prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in English. It is significantly different from the annual Man Booker Prize in that it highlights one writer's overall contribution to fiction on the world stage, rather than a single work.

Man Asian Literary Prize

In addition to the Man Booker Prizes, Man also sponsors the increasingly widely recognised Man Asian Literary Prize. This is an annual award given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English, or translated into English. If the work has been translated, there is also an award to recognise the skill of the translator.

Historic Royal Palaces

Man Group is a major supporter of Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity which looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace, and Kew Palace. Historic Royal Palaces receives no Government or Crown funding, so is dependent on the support of visitors, donors, volunteers and sponsors.

Man has also been the exclusive premier partner of the Tower of London since 2008. The Man Charitable Trust supported the £2 million cleaning and conservation of the Tower of London’s White Tower, completed in 2011.

Peter Clarke, chief executive of Man Group, commented:

“As the Tower’s close neighbours, we are delighted to have played a leading role in sponsoring the restoration of the White Tower. Although Man has been in the City for more than 225 years, the Tower has been here a lot longer, and it is a source of great pride to know that we are helping preserve the physical fabric of this most iconic of buildings for centuries to come”.