Image: 2024 winners
The Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards are now open for entries! These prestigious awards welcome submissions of all motoring and motor racing books published between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025.
Now in their twelfth consecutive year, the Motoring Book of the Year Awards are widely regarded as the highest honours in automotive book publishing.
“Our Awards have a simple yet important goal: to champion the very best in automotive literature – honouring outstanding books, authors and publishers,” said Jeremy Vaughan, Head of Motoring at the Royal Automobile Club. “Once again, we invite authors and publishers to submit their best and latest work for consideration. Whether it's marque histories, biographies, general motoring, motorsport or vehicle design, we aim to celebrate the exceptional quality and diversity within automotive publishing.
“The list of past winners reads like a rollcall of outstanding literary success – from The Lamborghini Miura by Simon Kidston and Jon Pressnell to How to Build a Car by Adrian Newey, and from Fit for a King: The Royal Garage of the Shahs of Iran by Borzou Sepasi to The Austin Pedal Car Story by David Whyley.
“Our independent judges always face a challenging task in selecting the shortlist from an array of outstanding works, and this year will be no exception. We look forward to revealing the finalists in September.”
The awards feature four main categories, covering both motoring and motorsport books, divided by price:
Motor cars and motoring – Titles priced below £50 and above £50
Motorsport – Titles priced below £50 and above £50
One of the shortlisted titles will take the coveted overall Royal Automobile Club Book of the Year Award.
Additionally, the awards include:
The Graham Robson Trophy for Best Debut Author – Recognising an outstanding book by a previously unpublished author.
The Lifetime Achievement Award – Honouring an individual (or business) who has made a significant contribution to automotive publishing.
The six-member judging panel consists of independent experts from across the automotive and publishing industries. Representing specialist media are Mick Walsh (Classic & Sports Car), Damien Smith (Motor Sport), and Mark Dixon (Octane), alongside Ian Titchmarsh of the British Racing Drivers' Club. The panel also includes Ben Horton of specialist bookseller Horton’s Books and Christian Whitehead of Blackwell’s in Oxford, representing the retail sector.
The panel is chaired by esteemed motorsport writer and commentator Simon Taylor, who will also host the Awards ceremony.
To ensure each book receives full and thorough consideration, the Royal Automobile Club encourages all automotive authors and publishers to submit their eligible titles as soon as they are published. The closing date for submissions is Thursday, 31 July 2025.
The winners will be announced on Wednesday, 29 October 2025, at the Club’s historic Pall Mall clubhouse, in the presence of distinguished guests from the worlds of publishing, motoring and motorsport.
