A study of the rise of Ukip was named the political book of the year at a ceremony on Wednesday.

Revolt on the Right, by the academics Matthew Goodwin and Robert Ford, won the £10,000 prize ahead of titles including MP Alan Johnson’s memoir Please, Mister Postman, Guardian journalist Luke Harding’s story of Edward Snowden’s whistle-blowing, The Snowden Files, and Rochdale Labour MP Simon Danczuk’s allegations about Cyril Smith’s child abuse, Smile for the Camera, which sparked a criminal investigation last year. The prize money was donated by Lord Ashcroft, who judged the award alongside Mary Beard, the MP Keith Simpson, Lord Adonis and the journalist Ann Treneman.

“Revolt on the Right is an insightful book which is scholarly and analytical, yet accessible and readable at the same time,” said Ashcroft. “It is a superbly timed work that does exactly what it says on the tin, charting the reasons for the rise of Ukip as a political force.”

The panel called the title “groundbreaking”, adding that it provided “essential and enjoyable reading for anyone who wants to understand the shifts in modern politics”.

“Their story relies on an impressive amount of data and their analysis has been borne out by recent events,” said the judges.

At the Paddy Power political book awards on Wednesday, Ramita Navai’s portrait of modern Tehran, City of Lies, won the debut political book of the year prize, which came with an extra £3,000 donated by Lord Ashcroft. A biography of Roy Jenkins by John Campbell took the political biography of the year award. “The highest praise I can give to John Campbell’s biography is that Roy Jenkins would have been proud to have been its author,” wrote Alan Johnson of Campbell’s book in the Guardian. In landing the prize, it beat titles including Boris Johnson’s take on Churchill, The Churchill Factor .

Political history book of the year went to David Kynaston’s Modernity Britain Book Two, a look at the years 1959-1962, while the political fiction gong was won by Terry Stiastny’s tale of state secrets gone missing, Acts of Omission.

Former home secretary Charles Clarke’s The Too Difficult Box, a look at “the big issues politicians can’t crack”, beat former prime minister Gordon Brown’s My Scotland, Our Britain to win the practical politics book of the year; Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson’s The Coalition Book took the political humour and satire prize, and Geoffrey Robinson’s An Inconvenient Genocide: Who Now Remembers the Armenians? was named polemic of the year.

Andrew Marr, meanwhile, missed out on the political fiction prize, for which his novel Head of State had been shortlisted, but was presented with a lifetime achievement award for political writing by his colleague on the Andrew Marr Show, producer Barney Jones.

The awards were founded by Iain Dale, who said that “2015 is a massive year for everyone in politics, and by definition anyone who writes about it”.

“The role of these awards in showcasing and encouraging the finest political writing has never been more significant,” he added. “These are the books that have helped shape our thinking and will continue to do so right up to the general election and beyond.”

The winners in full

Political book of the year: Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain by Robert Ford and Matthew Goodwin (Routledge)
Polemic of the year: An Inconvenient Genocide: Who Now Remembers the Armenians? by Geoffrey Robertson (Biteback)
International affairs book of the year: Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat by Helen McCarthy (Bloomsbury)
Political history book of the year: Modernity Britain: A Shake of the Dice 1959–62 by David Kynaston (Bloomsbury)
Political Biography of the Year: Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life by John Campbell (Jonathan Cape)
World war one book of the year: The World’s War by David Olusoga (Head of Zeus)
Political humour and satire book of the year: The Coalition Book by Martin Rowson (SelfMadeHero)
Debut political book of the year: City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran by Ramita Navai (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Political fiction book of the year: Acts of Omission by Terry Stiastny (John Murray)
Practical politics book of the year: The ‘Too Difficult’ Box by Charles Clarke (Biteback)