Former deputy prime minister John Manley has signed on to judge the 2008 edition of the Charles Taylor Prize, the annual $25,000 honour celebrating literary non-fiction.

Organizers announced a three-member jury panel on Monday that includes  the Ottawa-based Manley, the former federal Liberal politician who has also served as minister of finance and minister of foreign affairs, and Charlotte Gray, a Carleton University professor and acclaimed author of numerous historic titles.

Former politician John Manley, seen here in 2003, joins authors Charlotte Gray and J.B. MacKinnon on the jury for the 2008 Charles Taylor Prize.
(Ken Gigliotti/Winnipeg Free Press/Canadian Press)

Rounding out the panel is Vancouver-based freelance journalist and author J.B. MacKinnon, a past Charles Taylor winner who picked up the award in 2006 for his book debut Dead Man in Paradise.

A short list for the upcoming edition will be announced in January, with the awards luncheon to follow Feb. 18 in Toronto.

In addition to the $25,000 prize, each finalist receives an honorarium of $2,000 and promotional support for his or her shortlisted title.

First awarded in 2000, the Charles Taylor Prize honours the memory of former Globe and Mail columnist, essayist and non-fiction writer Charles Taylor, who died in 1997.

Initially awarded every two years, the prize became an annual event in 2004.

Other past winners include:

• Wayne Johnston.
• Carol Shields.
• Isabel Huggan.
• Charles Montgomery.
• Rudy Wiebe.