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Martha Kearney, credit Sarah Lee
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is delighted to announce that award-winning journalist and broadcaster Martha Kearney will be joining the judging panel for 2027.
Martha joins Chair Katie Grant and fellow judges Jim Naughtie, Elizabeth Laird, James Holloway and Rosi Byard-Jones on the panel to decide the winner of the £25,000 Prize, awarded in June 2027 at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland.
On joining the judging panel, Martha said:
“Being plunged into the lives of people and places from the past is one of the greatest pleasures for a reader. I have loved historical fiction since I was a child, so I was delighted to be asked to be a judge for the Walter Scott Prize 2027. I have read many of the prize winners in the past and so I really applaud the way the Prize celebrates ambition, innovation and originality.”
Martha is best known for her six-year tenure presenting BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. In 2024 Martha stepped down from Today to take up two new regular roles at BBC Radio 4, fronting her own interview series This Natural Life, and joining the presenting team on Open Country.
In a career that spans almost 4 decades, Martha has presented several of the UK’s longest-running political and current-affairs programmes, including BBC2’s Newsnight, nearly a decade at BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, and eleven years hosting BBC Radio 4’s The World at One.
Beyond the newsroom, Martha has fronted documentaries about history, literature, nature, and art, has won the Sony Radio Bronze Award, and has been nominated for a BAFTA for her coverage of the Northern Ireland peace process. In 2025, Martha was awarded a CBE for her outstanding services to journalism and broadcasting.
