English-language books by writers based in the UK and Ireland
Country
United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland
Presented by
Costa Coffee
Formerly called
Whitbread Book Awards
First awarded
1971; 53 years ago (1971)
Last awarded
2021; 3 years ago (2021)
Website
costa.co.uk/costa-book-awards/
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 restaurant chains, it was renamed when Costa Coffee, then a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship.[1][2] The companion Costa Short Story Award was established in 2012.[3] Costa Coffee was purchased by the Coca-Cola Company in 2018. The awards were abruptly terminated in 2022.[4]
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.
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The CostaBookAwards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the...
Awards. The awards were dissolved in 2022. Costa Books of the Year are distinguished with a blue ribbon (). Award winners are listed in bold. Costa Book...
welfare. Costa Coffee has been the sponsor of the CostaBookAwards (formerly the Whitbread BookAwards) since 2006. On 10 June 2022 they announced this...
takes Costa first novel award". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2022-05-27. Retrieved 2023-06-09. "Awards: CostaBookAwards Category...
Globe–Horn BookAward for fiction, The Wolf Wilder (2015), and The Explorer (2017), winner of the children's book prize at the 2017 CostaBookAwards. Her 2022...
clasper Costa!, a 2001 Dutch film Costa!!, a 2022 Dutch film CostaBookAwards, formerly the Whitbread BookAward, a literary award in the UK Costa Caribe...
for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. It was voted as the 2018 Waterstones' Book of the Year and won "Best Novel" at the 2018 CostaBookAwards. In 2019, the novel...
by Stuart Turton which won the Best First Novel prize in the 2018 CostaBookAwards and reached number one on The Saturday Times Bestseller list and number...
authors' debut novels, part of the CostaBookAwards which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made. Costa Books of the Year are distinguished...
The CostaBookAward for Short Story, established in 2012, was an annual literary award for short stories, part of the CostaBookAwards. The awards were...
"Sikh Author Wins Mind Book of the Year Award", The Langar Hall, 26 May 2009. Brown, Mark (26 November 2013). "Costabookawards 2013: late author on all-female...
book, was shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize, and the 2018 CostaBookAwards in the biography category. The judges described it as "An absolutely...
shortlisted for the 2010 CostaBookAwards, longlisted for the 2010 Booker Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Skippy Dies follows...
bestseller internationally and won a number of awards including the First Novel Award at the 2018 CostaBookAwards. His books have sold over one million copies...
writer and photographer. His 2021 debut novel, Open Water, won the CostaBookAward for First Novel. Azumah Nelson grew up in and currently lives in southeast...
debut poetry collection, Flèche, won the 2019 CostaBookAward in the poetry category. Chan’s second book, Bright Fear, was published by Faber in 2023...
death, posthumously won the Poetry and overall Book of the Year awards in the 2017 CostaBookAwards. Dunmore's husband Frank Charnley, whom she married...
including the CostaBookAward and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. In September 2021 he became the first Irish writer to be awarded the Jean-Monnet...
London. Retrieved 25 May 2010. "Sebastian Barry wins 2008 CostaBook of the Year". CostaBookAwards. January 27, 2009. Archived from the original on March...
for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), the latter of which won the 2008 CostaBook of the Year...
Irish BookAwards Novel of the Year – Normal People 2018 CostaBookAwards – Normal People 2019 Encore Award – Normal People 2022 Dalkey Literary Awards –...
National BookAwards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National BookAwards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation...
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