BOOK AWARDS
Whitbread Awards 2003
http://www.whitbreadbookawards.co.uk/index.htm
Established by Whitbread PLC — one of the UK's leading leisure companies — in 1971, the Whitbread Book Awards 'celebrate the most enjoyable British writing of the last year'.
This year's awards were marked by a record number of entries — 468 in total — including the highest ever entry in the Children's Book Awards (111) and the shortlists include three former Whitbread winners.
The five category award winners — each worth £5000 — are given below. The overall winner of the £25,000 Whitbread Book of the Year will be announced on Tuesday 27th January 2004 at an awards ceremony to be held at The Brewery in London.
Book of the Year Winner
Mark Haddon has won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year Award for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The announcement was made on Tuesday 27 January at an awards ceremony at The Brewery in Central London.
The bookmakers' overwhelming odds-on favourite and general public's 'Book of the Year' - as selected by the hundreds of votes cast via the Whitbread Book Awards website - won against one of the most acclaimed collections of finalists in the Whitbread Awards' 33-year history. Sir John Banham, Chairman of Whitbread PLC, presented the author with his award and £25,000 cheque.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is published in both an adult and a children's version, is the sixth novel to win the Whitbread Book of the Year since 1985. It has already won numerous children's and teenage fiction awards and was initially entered for the Children's Book Award as well, but was withdrawn by the publishers in preference to the Novel Award. (Whitbread Book Awards rules stipulate that books may only be entered in one category.)
Category Winners Announced
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| Novel | |||
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Mark Haddon | Jonathan Cape | 0224063782 |
| First Novel | |||
| Vernon God Little | DBC Pierre | Faber and Faber | 0571215157 |
| Poetry | |||
| Landing Light | Don Paterson | Faber and Faber | 0571219934 |
| Biography | |||
| Orwell: The Life | D J Taylor | Chatto & Windus | 0701169192 |
| Children's Book | |||
| The Fire-Easters | David Almond | Hodder Children's Books | 0340773820 |
Shortlists (announced mid-November)
| Novel | |||
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| The Lucky Ones | Rachel Cusk | Fourth Estate | 1857029127 |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Mark Haddon | Jonathan Cape | 0224063782 |
| Heligoland | Shena Mackay | Jonathan Cape | 0224059343 |
| Frankie & Stankie | Barbara Trapido | Bloomsbury | 074756034X |
| First Novel | |||
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| Buddha Da | Anne Donovan | Canongate Books | 1841953385 |
| An Evening of Long Goodbyes | Paul Murray | Hamish Hamilton | 0241141818 |
| Vernon God Little | DBC Pierre | Faber and Faber | 0571215157 |
| An Empty Room | Talitha Stevenson | Virago | 186049983X |
| Poetry | |||
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| Minsk | Lavinia Greenlaw | Faber and Faber | 057121780X |
| Ink Stone | Jamie McKendrick | Faber and Faber | 0571215327 |
| Landing Light | Don Paterson | Faber and Faber | 0571219934 |
| Hard Water | Jean Sprackland | Jonathan Cape | 0224069594 |
| Biography | |||
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| Margaret Thatcher — Volume Two: The Iron Lady | John Campbell | Jonathan Cape | 0224061569 |
| Martha Gellhorn | Caroline Moorehead | Chatto & Windus | 0701169516 |
| Orwell: The Life | D J Taylor | Chatto & Windus | 0701169192 |
| Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith | Andrew Wilson | Bloomsbury | 0747563144 |
| Children's Book | |||
| Title | Author | Publisher | ISBN |
| The Fire-Easters | David Almond | Hodder Children's Books | 0340773820 |
| The Oracle | Catherine Fisher | Hodder Children's Books | 0340843764 |
| Private Peaceful | Michael Morpurgo | HarperCollins | 0007150067 |
| Naked Without a Hat | Jeanne Willis | Faber and Faber | 0571212808 |
