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Costa Book Awards

Former annual literary awards


Former annual literary awards

FieldValue
nameCosta Book Awards
former nameWhitbread Book Awards
presenterCosta Coffee
awarded_forEnglish-language books by writers based in the UK and Ireland
year
year2
countryUnited Kingdom and Ireland
imageFile:Costa_Book_Awards_logo_2019.png

The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then a brewery and owner of pub-restaurant chains, it was renamed when Costa Coffee, then a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship. The companion Costa Short Story Award was established in 2012. Costa Coffee was purchased by the Coca-Cola Company in 2018. The awards were discontinued in 2022.

The awards were given both for high literary merit and for works that were enjoyable reading, and their aim was to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience. As such, they were considered a more populist literary prize than the Booker Prize, which also limited winners to literature written in the English language and published in the UK and Ireland.

Awards were separated into six categories: Biography, Children's Books, First Novel, Novel, Poetry, and Short Story.

In 1989, there was controversy 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.

History

The 1989 Whitbread Book Award for Best Novel was first awarded to The War Zone by Alexander Stuart. However, juror Jane Gardam felt the book was "repellent" and appealed directly to the Whitbread company, arguing that awarding the prize to Stuart's novel would make them into a "laughing stock". After ten days, and leaking the story to the press, the other two jurors, David Cook and Val Hennessy, were persuaded to change their minds, and Lindsay Clarke's The Chymical Wedding won the award instead. Both Cook and Hennessy found the experience so unpleasant they vowed to never sit in an award jury again.

The awards were discontinued in 2022, with the 2021 awards being the last ones made. Just one month later, the Blue Peter Book Award was also discontinued; this left only three widely recognized awards for UK children's literature (the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Carnegie Medal, and the Kate Greenaway Medal).

Process

There were five book award categories. These had not been changed since the Poetry Award was introduced in 1985, although the children's category had been termed "children's novel" or "children's book of the year". The categories are:

  • Novel
  • First novel
  • Children's book
  • Poetry
  • Biography

Each of the five winning writers received £5,000. The prize required a £5,000 fee from publishers if a book was to be shortlisted.

Short stories

The short story award was established in 2012 with a prize of £3,500 for the first, £1,000 for the second and £500 for the third. The winning story was determined by public vote from a shortlist of six that were selected by a panel of judges. The process was "blind" at both stages for the unpublished entries were anonymous until the conclusion.

In the inaugural year, the six short story finalists were exposed anonymously online while the public vote was underway, two months before the winner was to be announced.

Winners

Bold font and blue ribbon () distinguish the overall Costa/Whitbread Book of the Year.

For lists that include shortlisted entries (where available), please see:

  • Costa Book Award for Novel
  • Costa Book Award for First Novel
  • Costa Book Award for Children's Book
  • Costa Book Award for Poetry
  • Costa Book Award for Biography
  • Costa Book Award for Short Story

List of award winners

YearAwardNotes & RefsNovelFirst novelChildren's bookPoetryBiographyShort storyYearNovelFirst novelChildren's bookPoetryBiographyShort storyNotes & Refs
1971Gerda Charles
The Destiny WaltzGeoffrey Hill
Mercian HymnsMichael Meyer
Henrik Ibsen
1972Susan Hill
The Bird of NightRumer Godden
The DiddakoiJames Pope-Hennessy
Anthony Trollope
1973Shiva Naipaul
The Chip-Chip GatherersAlan Aldridge and William Plomer
The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's FeastJohn Wilson
CB: A Life of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
1974Iris Murdoch
The Sacred and Profane Love MachineClaire Tomalin
The Life and Death of Mary WollstonecraftRussell Hoban and Quentin Blake
How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen
Jill Paton Walsh
The Emperor's Winding SheetAndrew Boyle
Poor Dear Brendan
1975William McIlvanney
DochertyRuth Spalding
The Improbable Puritan: A Life of Bulstrode WhitelockeHelen Corke
In Our Infancy
1976William Trevor
The Children of DynmouthPenelope Lively
A Stitch in TimeWinifred Gerin
Elizabeth Gaskell
1977Beryl Bainbridge
Injury TimeShelagh Macdonald
No End to YesterdayNigel Nicolson
Mary Curzon
1978Paul Theroux
Picture PalacePhilippa Pearce
The Battle of Bubble & SqueakJohn Grigg
Lloyd George: The People's Champion
1979Jennifer Johnston
The Old JestPeter Dickinson
TulkuPenelope Mortimer
About Time
1980'*David Lodge
*How Far Can You Go'''''Leon Garfield
John DiamondDavid Newsome
On the Edge of Paradise: A. C. Benson, Diarist
1981Maurice Leitch
Silver's CityWilliam Boyd
A Good Man in AfricaJane Gardam
The Hollow LandNigel Hamilton
Monty: The Making of a General
1982John Wain
Young ShouldersBruce Chatwin
On the Black HillW. J. Corbett
The Song of PentecostEdward Crankshaw
Bismarck
1983William Trevor
Fools of FortuneJohn Fuller
Flying to NowhereRoald Dahl
The WitchesVictoria Glendinning
Vita
Kenneth Rose
King George V
1984Christopher Hope
Kruger's AlpJames Buchan
A Parish of Rich WomenBarbara Willard
The Queen of the Pharisees' ChildrenPeter Ackroyd
T. S. EliotDiane Rowe
Tomorrow is our Permanent Address
1985Peter Ackroyd
HawksmoorJeanette Winterson
Oranges Are Not the Only FruitJanni Howker
The Nature of the Beast'*Douglas Dunn
*Elegies'''''Ben Pimlott
Hugh Dalton
1986'*Kazuo Ishiguro
*An Artist of the Floating World'''''Jim Crace
ContinentAndrew Taylor
The Coal HousePeter Reading
StetRichard Mabey
Gilbert White
1987Ian McEwan
The Child in TimeFrancis Wyndham
The Other GardenGeraldine McCaughrean
A Little Lower than the AngelsSeamus Heaney
The Haw Lantern'*Christopher Nolan
*Under the Eye of the Clock'''''
1988Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses'*Paul Sayer
*The Comforts of Madness'''''Judy Allen
Awaiting DevelopmentsPeter Porter
The Automatic OracleA. N. Wilson
Tolstoy
1989Lindsay Clarke
The Chymical WeddingJames Hamilton-Paterson
GerontiusHugh Scott
Why Weeps the BroganMichael Donaghy
Shibboleth'*Richard Holmes
*Coleridge: Early Visions'''''
1990'*Nicholas Mosley
*Hopeful Monsters'''''Hanif Kureishi
The Buddha of SuburbiaPeter Dickinson
AKPaul Durcan
Daddy, DaddyAnn Thwaite
AA Milne – His Life
1991Jane Gardam
The Queen of the TambourineGordon Burn
Alma CoganDiana Hendry
Harvey AngellMichael Longley
Gorse Fires'*John Richardson
*A Life of Picasso'''''
1992Alasdair Gray
Poor Things'*Jeff Torrington
*Swing Hammer Swing!'''''Gillian Cross
The Great Elephant ChaseTony Harrison
The Gaze of the GorgonVictoria Glendinning
Trollope
1993'*Joan Brady
*Theory of War'''''Rachel Cusk
Saving AgnesAnne Fine
Flour BabiesCarol Ann Duffy
Mean TimeAndrew Motion
Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life
1994'*William Trevor
*Felicia's Journey'''''Fred D'Aguiar
The Longest MemoryGeraldine McCaughrean
Gold DustJames Fenton
Out of DangerBrenda Maddox
D H Lawrence: The Married Man
1995Salman Rushdie
The Moor's Last Sigh'*Kate Atkinson
*Behind the Scenes at the Museum'''''Michael Morpurgo
The Wreck of the ZanzibarBernard O'Donoghue
GunpowderRoy Jenkins
Gladstone
1996Beryl Bainbridge
Every Man for HimselfJohn Lanchester
The Debt to PleasureAnne Fine
The Tulip Touch'*Seamus Heaney
*The Spirit Level'''''Diarmaid MacCulloch
Thomas Cranmer: A Life
1997Jim Crace
QuarantinePauline Melville
The Ventriloquist's TaleAndrew Norriss
Aquila'*Ted Hughes
*Tales from Ovid'''''Graham Robb
Victor Hugo
1998Justin Cartwright
Leading the CheersGiles Foden
The Last King of ScotlandDavid Almond
Skellig'*Ted Hughes
*Birthday Letters'''''Amanda Foreman
Georgiana, Duchess of DevonshirePosthumous Book of the Year Award
1999Rose Tremain
Music and SilenceTim Lott
White City BlueJ.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'*Seamus Heaney
*Beowulf: A New Verse Translation'''''David Cairns
Berlioz Volume Two: Servitude and Greatness
2000'*Matthew Kneale
*English Passengers'''''Zadie Smith
White TeethJamila Gavin
Coram BoyJohn Burnside
The Asylum DanceLorna Sage
Bad Blood – A Memoir
2001Patrick Neate
Twelve Bar BluesSid Smith
Something Like A House'*Philip Pullman
*The Amber Spyglass'''''Selima Hill
BunnyDiana Souhami
Selkirk's Island
2002Michael Frayn
SpiesNorman Lebrecht
The Song of NamesHilary McKay
Saffy's AngelPaul Farley
The Ice Age'*Claire Tomalin
*Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self'''''
2003'*Mark Haddon
*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'''''DBC Pierre
Vernon God LittleDavid Almond
The Fire-EatersDon Paterson
Landing Light (poetry collection)DJ Taylor
Orwell: The Life
2004'*Andrea Levy
*Small Island'''''Susan Fletcher
Eve GreenGeraldine McCaughrean
Not the End of the WorldMichael Symmons Roberts
CorpusJohn Guy
My Heart Is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots
2005Ali Smith
The AccidentalTash Aw
The Harmony Silk FactoryKate Thompson
The New PolicemanChristopher Logue
Cold Calls'*Hilary Spurling
*Matisse the Master'''''
2006William Boyd
Restless'*Stef Penney
*The Tenderness of Wolves'''''Linda Newbery
Set in StoneJohn Haynes
Letter to PatienceBrian Thompson
Keeping Mum
2007'*A.L. Kennedy
*Day'''''Catherine O'Flynn
What Was LostAnn Kelley
The Bower Bird Jean Sprackland
TiltSimon Sebag Montefiore
Young Stalin
2008'*Sebastian Barry
*The Secret Scripture'''''Sadie Jones
The OutcastMichelle Magorian
Just HenryAdam Foulds
The Broken WordDiana Athill
Somewhere Towards the End
2009Colm Tóibin
BrooklynRaphael Selbourne
BeautyPatrick Ness
The Ask and the Answer'*Christopher Reid
*A Scattering'''''Graham Farmelo
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius
2010Maggie O'Farrell
The Hand That First Held MineKishwar Desai
Witness the NightJason Wallace
Out of Shadows'*Jo Shapcott
*Of Mutability'''''Edmund de Waal
The Hare with Amber Eyes
2011'*Andrew Miller
*Pure'''''Christie Watson
Tiny Sunbirds Far AwayMoira Young
Blood Red RoadCarol Ann Duffy
The BeesMatthew Hollis
Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas
2012'*Hilary Mantel
*Bring up the Bodies'''''Francesca Segal
The InnocentsSally Gardner
Maggot MoonKathleen Jamie
The OverhaulMary Talbot and Bryan Talbot
Dotter of Her Father's EyesAvril Joy
Millie and Bird
2013Kate Atkinson
Life after Life'*Nathan Filer
*The Shock of the Fall'''''Chris Riddell
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a MouseMichael Symmons Roberts
DrysalterLucy Hughes-Hallett
The PikeAngela Readman
The Keeper of the Jackalopes
2014Ali Smith
How to Be BothEmma Healey
Elizabeth is MissingKate Saunders
Five Children on the Western FrontJonathan Edwards
My Family and Other Superheroes'*Helen Macdonald
*H is for Hawk'''''Zoe Gilbert
Fishskin, Hareskin
2015Kate Atkinson
A God in RuinsAndrew Michael Hurley
The Loney'*Frances Hardinge
*The Lie Tree'''''Don Paterson
40 SonnetsAndrea Wulf
The Invention of NatureDanny Murphy
Rogey
2016'*Sebastian Barry
*Days Without End'''''Francis Spufford
Golden HillBrian Conaghan
The Bombs That Brought Us TogetherAlice Oswald
Falling AwakeKeggie Carew
Dadland: A Journey into Uncharted TerritoryJess Kidd
Dirty Little Fishes
2017Jon McGregor
Reservoir 13Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely FineKatherine Rundell
The Explorer'*Helen Dunmore
*Inside the Wave'''''Rebecca Stott
In the Days of RainPosthumous Book of the Year Award
2018Sally Rooney
Normal PeopleStuart Turton
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn HardcastleHilary McKay
The Skylarks' WarJ. O. Morgan
Assurances'*Bart van Es
*The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found'''''
2019Jonathan Coe
Middle EnglandSara Collins
The Confessions of Frannie LangtonJasbinder Bilan
Asha & the Spirit BirdMary Jean Chan
Flèche'*Jack Fairweather
*The Volunteer'''''
2020'*Monique Roffey
*The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story'''''Ingrid Persaud
Love After LoveNatasha Farrant
Voyage of the SparrowhawkEavan Boland
The HistoriansLee Lawrence
The Louder I Will SingTessa Sheridan
The Person Who Serves, Serves Again
2021Claire Fuller, Unsettled GroundCaleb Azumah Nelson, Open WaterManjeet Mann, The Crossing'Hannah Lowe, The Kids'''''John Preston, Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell
"—" not awarded this year

References

Alison Flood (28 November 2012). "Costa short story prize to be decided by public vote". Alison Flood. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.

References

  1. (11 January 2000). "The Wrath of Roth". Sun Sentinel.
  2. "The War Zone Diary", page 222 of the War Zone, Stuart, Alexander, ISBN 0385249535, Doubleday, 1989
  3. (10 December 1989). "Book Report". [[The Washington Post]].
  4. (10 June 2022). "Costa book awards scrapped suddenly after 50 years". The Guardian.
  5. (23 June 2022). "Shock ending: how the Costa book awards changed reading – and pitted husband against wife". The Guardian.
  6. (6 July 2022). "Children's books world reacts to 'horrible loss' of Blue Peter book awards".
  7. "The Costa Short Story Award terms and conditions of entry". Costa.
  8. [http://www.costa.co.uk/costa-book-awards/costa-short-story-award/ "Costa Short Story Award"] {{Webarchive. link. (15 February 2014 . Costa Book Awards. Retrieved 2014-02-03.)
  9. (January 2018). "Costa Book Awards 2017". Costa Book Awards.
  10. (January 2019). "Costa Book Awards 2018: the category award winners are...". [[BBC]].
  11. Chandler, Mark. (28 January 2020). "Costa Book of the Year won by Fairweather's The Volunteer". The Bookseller.
  12. Doyle, Martin. (6 January 2020). "Costa Book Awards 2019 winners revealed". [[The Irish Times]].
  13. (January 2021). "Costa Book of the Year: 'Utterly original' Mermaid of Black Conch wins". [[BBC]].
  14. "Costa Book Awards 2021 category winners announced".
  15. "CBA Past Winners 2015 Version".
  16. "CBA Past Shortlists 2015 Version".
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