People read less: Do we still need the Booker Prize? Some of this year's Booker Prize nomineesThe world and it’s reading habits have changed – but has the Booker Prize changed too? The Booker Prize might as well be in a foreign language; in some ways, it is. It is as if the Booker Prize Foundation has already prepared rebuttals for the first half-dozen accusations of elitism, populism, irrelevance, conformity, wokeism and generalised Wrongthink. The first Booker Prize was worth £5,000 (equivalent to around £105,000 today); the modern iteration carries £50,000 for the winner.