Whitbread Book Awards - The Process, Book of the Year Award Winners

British book prizes, established in 1973. The awards were initially given in four categories (novel, first novel, poetry, and biography) to works by writers who must have been resident in Great Britain or Ireland for at least six months per year for the preceding three years. Category winners are also eligible to become the Whitbread Book of the Year, which is announced two weeks later. Since 1996 the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year has been announced as a separate award. The total prize fund is £50 000: each of the category award winners receives £5000, and the overall winner receives a further £25 000.

In 1989, controversy erupted when the judges first awarded the Best Novel prize to Alexander Stuart's The War Zone, then withdrew the prize prior to the ceremony amid acrimony among the judges, ultimately awarding it to Lindsay Clarke's The Chymical Wedding.

The Process

Currently each year winners are chosen by five separate judging panels picking from different shortlists in five different categories

The categories are:

Best novel Best first novel Children's Poetry Biography

Each category winner receives £5000.

Book of the Year Award Winners

2006 - Prior to 2006, "The Whitbread Awards" 2005 - Hilary Spurling, Matisse The Master 2004 - Andrea Levy, Small Island 2003 - Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 2002 - Claire Tomalin, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self 2001 - Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass 2000 - Matthew Kneale, English Passengers 1999 - Seamus Heaney, Beowulf 1999 - Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters [[1997] in literature|1998] - Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid 1997 - Seamus Heaney, The Spirit Level 1996 - Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum 1994 - William Trevor, Felicia’s Journey 1993 - Joan Brady, Theory of War 1992 - Jeff Torrington, Swing Hammer Swing! 1991 - John Richardson, A Life of Picasso 1990 - Nicholas Mosley, Hopeful Monsters 1989 - Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Early Visions 1988 - Paul Sayer, The Comforts of Madness 1987 - Christopher Nolan, Under the eye of the clock 1986 - Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World 1985 - Douglas Dunn, Elegies 1984 - James Buchan, A Parish of Rich Women 1983 - John Fuller, Flying to Nowhere 1982 - Bruce Chatwin, On The Black Hill 1981 - William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa 1980 - David Lodge, How Far Can You Go? Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Book Awards)

2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991 | 1990 | 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | 1986 | 1985 | 1984 | 1983 | 1982 | 1981 | 1980 | 1979 | 1978 | 1977 | 1976 | 1975 | 1974 | 1973 | 1972 |