The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs have announced the new panel of judges for the 2009 Business Book of the Year. The Award was launched officially in London at a breakfast debate hosted by Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, and attended by key industry figures from business and publishing, including current judge Helen Alexander, Bain Capital; new judge Lynda Gratton, Professor, London Business School and John Kay, economist and contributor to the FT.

The launch debate posed the question ”Is a financial crisis the best or the worst time to publish a business book?” Speakers agreed that success, both in this year’s award and in the wider market, could rest largely on timing. Helen Alexander said it is the ”publishers’ job to get the timing right”. Lynda Gratton and John Kay agreed that forward-looking books would ”eventually be a bigger hit than retrospective books on the crisis and recession”.

The judging panel for the 2009 Award comprises:

● Lionel Barber, editor, Financial Times

● Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

● Mario Monti, President of the Bocconi University of Milan and the first Chairman of Bruegel

● Helen Alexander, Advisor, Bain Capital

● Lynda Gratton, Professor, London Business School

● Alexander S. Friedman, Chief Financial Officer, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Lionel Barber said: “I’m delighted to be judging the entries once again, and while we expect to consider many books on the current global economic crisis, we hope that publishers will submit a wide range of books that reflect all facets of business.”

Lloyd Blankfein said: ”The prize has a strong track record of recognizing compelling books on important topics. I look forward to debating this year’s entrants with our judging panel.”

The Business Book of the Year Award is designed to highlight the book that provides the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics. Entries are invited from publishers of business books in the English language that are first published between 31st October 2008 and 1st November 2009. The deadline for entries is 30th June 2009 and the entry form is available online at www.ft.com/bookaward

The judging panel will then select a shortlist of up to six authors, which will be announced in September. The overall winner will be announced at a gala event in London on 29th October 2009.

The winner of the Business Book of the Year Award will be awarded £30,000, and each of the remaining shortlisted authors will receive £5,000.

The 2008 Award was won by Mohamed El-Erian for ‘When Markets Collide’. The Award was presented at a gala dinner in New York, which was attended by over 200 senior executives from the publishing and business communities. William D Cohan won the 2007 award for ‘The Last Tycoons’, ‘China Shakes the World’ by James Kynge won the 2006 award, and the winner of the inaugural award in 2005 was Thomas Friedman for his book ‘The World Is Flat’.

The breakfast debate podcast is available at www.ft.com/businessbook

For further information, please contact:

Kristina Eriksson, Financial Times, +44 20 7873 4961 or kristina.eriksson@ft.com