The prize is named after the Diagram Group, an information and graphics company based in London,[2] and The Bookseller, a British trade magazine for the publishing industry.
[8] The most recent winner, in December 2024, was The Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire by Richard Adams Carey.
[1][3] Following two occasions in 1987 and 1991 when no prize was given due to a lack of odd titles, The Bookseller opened suggestions to the readers of the magazine.
However, Bent also expressed his annoyance at people who gave submissions that broke the rules, with some of the books mentioned being published as far back as 1880.
[16][17] The prize is either a magnum of champagne or a bottle of claret for the person who nominates the winning title,[15] and increased publicity for both the book and its author.
"[19] In 2018, all the nominations came from staff at The Bookseller, so the claret was awarded to a random voter who voted for the eventual winner.
Bent resisted this move and threatened to resign, but he later reconsidered and now creates the short list of finalists.
[7] In 2009, the choice of The 2009–2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais as winner of the 2008 award was controversial, as Parker did not write the book himself, but used an automated authoring machine which produces thousands of titles on the basis of Internet and database searches.
[8] Philip Stone, charts editor and awards administrator at The Bookseller, commented by saying: "I think it's slightly controversial as it was written by a computer, but given the number of celebrity memoirs out there that are ghostwritten, I don't think it's too strange.