The £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize — the UK’s most prestigious prize for non-fiction — said it is fully committed its relationship with the Edinburgh investment giant, despite the firm’s exit from its sponsorship of numerous book festivals amid pressure from climate activists.

“The Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction has happily partnered with Baillie Gifford since 2016,” a spokesperson for the prize told The Guardian.

“We have always found them to be collaborative, generous and transparent about their investments.

“They are contracted to sponsor the prize until the end of 2025 and we are fully committed to that relationship.”

Baillie Gifford told Scottish Financial Review: “All we can say is the firm is having ongoing conversations with the book festivals and the prize about its future relationships.”

The Baillie Gifford Prize is managed by a board of directors and administered by Four Agency.

The Baillie Gifford Prize board comprises: Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Creative Industries Council and RCA (Chair); Toby Mundy (Prize Director); Ailah Ahmed (Publishing Director, Penguin Random House); Caroline Daniel (Partner, Brunswick); Peter Florence (Founder of Hay Festivals); Dotti Irving (Culture Consultant); Rosamund McCarthy (Partner at Stone King); Peter Straus (Literary agent, Rogers, Coleridge and White); Frederick Studemann (Literary Editor, Financial Times); Robert Yates (Assistant Editor, The Observer).

The 2024 judges for the prize are journalist, broadcaster and founder of China Dialogue, Isabel Hilton (Chair); author and investigative journalist Heather Brooke; comment and culture editor for New Scientist, Alison Flood; culture editor of Prospect, Peter Hoskin; writer and critic Tomiwa Owolade; author and food and TV critic Chitra Ramaswamy.

The winner of the prize will be announced on November 19.