Costa Book Awards
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The Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2006, when Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship.
The awards, launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience. As such, they are a more populist literary prize than the Booker Prize.
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.
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[edit] The process
Currently each year winners are chosen by five separate judging panels picking from different shortlists in five different categories:
- Best novel
- Best first novel
- Children's book
- Poetry
- Biography
Each category winner receives £5,000. One of the category winners is then selected as the Costa Book of the Year and given a further £25,000. This overall award is chosen by a judging panel that comprises five judges from the previous category round and four new ones.
The category winners do not have to be British (or Irish) but must be resident in the UK (or Ireland) for at least six months of the year.
[edit] Costa Book of the Year winners
- 2008 - Diana Athill, Somewhere Towards the End
- 2007 - A. L. Kennedy, Day
- 2006 - Stef Penney, The Tenderness of Wolves
Prior to 2006, "Whitbread Book of the Year"
- 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: A New Translation
- 1998 - Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters
- 1997 - Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid
- 1996 - Seamus Heaney, The Spirit Level
- 1995 - 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?
[edit] Costa Book Award category winners
[edit] 2008
- First Novel Award — Sadie Jones, The Outcast
- Novel Award — Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture
- Children's Book Award — Michelle Magorian, Just Henry
- Poetry Award — Adam Foulds, The Broken Word
- Biography Award — Diana Athill, Somewhere Towards the End
[edit] 2007
- First Novel Award – Catherine O'Flynn, What Was Lost
- Novel Award — A.L. Kennedy, Day
- Children's Book Award — Ann Kelley, The Bower Bird
- Poetry Award — Jean Sprackland, Tilt
- Biography Award — Simon Sebag Montefiore, Young Stalin
[edit] 2006
- First Novel Award – Stef Penney, The Tenderness of Wolves
- Novel Award — William Boyd, Restless
- Children's Book Award — Linda Newbery, Set in Stone
- Poetry Award — John Haynes, Letter to Patience
- Biography Award — Brian Thompson, Keeping Mum
[edit] 2005
- First Novel Award - Tash Aw, The Harmony Silk Factory
- Novel Award - Ali Smith, the accidental
- Children's Book Award - Kate Thompson, The New Policeman
- Poetry Award - Christopher Logue, Cold Calls
- Biography Award - Hilary Spurling, Matisse the Master
[edit] 2004
- First Novel Award - Susan Fletcher, Eve Green
- Novel Award - Andrea Levy, Small Island
- Children's Book Award - Geraldine McCaughrean, Not the End of the World
- Poetry Award - Michael Symmons Roberts, Corpus
- Biography Award - John Guy, My Heart Is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots
[edit] 2003
- First Novel Award - DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
- Novel Award - Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- Children's Book Award - David Almond, The Fire-Eaters
- Poetry Award - Don Paterson, Landing Light
- Biography Award - DJ Taylor, Orwell: The Life
[edit] 2002
- First Novel Award - Norman Lebrecht, The Song of Names
- Novel Award - Michael Frayn, Spies
- Children's Book Award - Hilary McKay, Saffy's Angel
- Poetry Award - Paul Farley, The Ice Age
- Biography Award - Claire Tomalin, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self
[edit] 2001
- First Novel Award - Sid Smith, Something Like A House
- Novel Award - Patrick Neate, Twelve Bar Blues
- Children's Book Award - Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass
- Poetry Award - Selima Hill, Bunny
- Biography Award - Diana Souhami, Selkirk's Island
[edit] 2000
- First Novel Award - Zadie Smith, White Teeth
- Novel Award - Matthew Kneale, English Passengers
- Children's Book Award - Jamila Gavin, Coram Boy
- Poetry Award - John Burnside, The Asylum Dance
- Biography Award - Lorna Sage, Bad Blood - A Memoir
[edit] See also
- List of British literary awards
- List of literary awards
- English literature
- British literature
- Literature
- List of years in literature
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Costa Book Awards official web site
- The most honored Costa/Whitbread Book Award shortlist books
- Injecting Caffeine Into the Whitbread (Now Costa) Book Awards at The Book Standard
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