Dave's Book Blog: Costa Award

The Costa Awards were originally named the Whitbread Awards.

There are six awards: Novel, First novel, Children's Book, poetry, and Short Stories.

Whitbread Novel Awards

1971: The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles
1972: The Bird of Night by Susan Hill
1973: The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul
1974: The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch
1975: Docherty by William McIlvanney
1976: The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
1977: Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
1978: Picture Palace by Paul Theroux
1979: The Old Jest by Jennifer Johnson
1980: How Far Can You Go by David Lodge
1981: Silver’s City by Maurice Leitch
1982: Young Shoulders by John Wain
1983: Fools of Fortune by William Trevor
1984: Kruger’s Alp by Christopher Hope
1985: Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
1986: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
1987: The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
1988: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (winner)
1989: The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke (winner)
1990: Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Modley (winner)
1991: The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam (winner)
1992: Poor Things by Alasdair Gray (winner)
1993: Theory of War by Joan Brady (winner)
1994: Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor (winner)
1995:

The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie (winner)
The Information by Martin Amis
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
In Every Face I Meet by Justin Cartwright
The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

1996:

Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge (winner)
Mr Clive & Mr Page by Neil Bartlett
Cocaine Nights by J G Ballard
Asylum by Patrick McGrath
Last Orders by Graham Swift
Worst Fears by Fay Weldon

1997:

Quarantine by Jim Crace (winner)
The Untouchable by John Banville
Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
Bleeding London by Geoff Nicholson

1998:

Leading the Cheers by Justin Cartwright (winner)
the catastrophist by Ronan Bennett
The Travelling Hornplayer by Barbara Trapido

1999:

Music and Silence by Rose Tremain (winner)
Being Dead by Jim Crace
Headlong by Michael Frayn
Chocolat by Joanne Harris

2000:

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale (winner)
Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson
What Are You Like? by Anne Enright
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
How the Dead Live by Will Self

2001:

Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neale
The Siege by Helen Dunmore
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Oxygen by Andrew Miller

2002:

Spies by Michael Frayn (winner)
White Lightning by Justin Cartwright
Rumours of a Hurricane by Tim Lott
The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor

2003:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (winner)
The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk
Heligoland by Shena Mackay
Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido

2004:

Small Island by Andrea Levy (winner)
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

2005:

The Accidental by Ali Smith (winner)
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie
The Ballad of Lee Cotton by Christopher Wilson

Costa Novel Awards

2006:

Restless by William Boyd (winner)
Saving Caravaggio by Neil Griffiths
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

2007:

Day by A L Kennedy (winner)
Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett
Death of a Murderer by Rupert Thomson
The Road Home by Rose Tremain

2008:

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (winner)
The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
A Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernieres
Trauma by Patrick McGrath

2009:

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (winner)
Family Album by Penelope Lively
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson

2010:

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell (winner)
Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty
The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

2011:

Pure by Andrew Miller (winner)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside
My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louise Young

2012:

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel (winner)
Life! Death! Prizes! by Stephen May
The Heart Broke In by James Meek
Days of the Bagnold Summer by Joff Winterhart

2013:

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (winner)
Unexpected Lessons in Love by Bernadine Bishop
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

2014:

How to be Both by Ali Smith (winner)
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee
House of Ashes by Monque Roffey
Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

2015:

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (winner)
The Green Road by Anne Enright
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison

2016:

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (winner)
This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain

2017:

Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (winner)
Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
Tin Man by Sarah Winman

2018:

Normal People by Sally Rooney (winner)
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman
From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan

2019:

Middle England by Jonathan Coe (winner)
Confession with Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach
Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor

2020:

The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffet

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Peace Talks by Tim Finch
The Less Dead by Denise Mina

2021:

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (winner)

The High Horse by Jessie Greengrass
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Whitbread DebutNovel Awards:

1974: The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft by Claire Tomalin (winner)
1975: The Improbably Puritan: A Life of Bulstrode Whitelocke (winner)
1981: A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd (winner)
1982: On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin (winner)
1983: Flying to Nowhere by John Fuller (winner)
1984: A Parish of Rich Women by James Buchan (winner)
1985: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson (winner)
1986: Continent by Jim Crace (winner)
1987: The Other Garden by Francis Wyndham (winner)
1988: The Comforts of Madness by Paul Sayer (winner)
1989: Gerontius by James Hamilton-Pearson (winner)
1990: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi (winner)
1991: Alma Cogan by Gordon Burn (winner)
1992: Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington (winner)
1993: Saving Agnes by Rachel Cusk (winner)
1994: The Longest Memory by Fred D’Aguiar (winner)
1995:

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (winner)
Gagarin & I by Stephen Blanchard
Morvern Callar by Alan Warner

1996:

The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester (winner)
Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane
The Arizona Game by Georgina Hammick
Mother of Pearl by Mary Morrissy

1997:

The Ventriloquist’s Tale by Patrick Melville (winner)
One Day as a Tiger by Anne Haverty
The Underground Man by Mick Jackson
Beach Boy by Ardashir Vakil
Eclipse of the Sun by Phil Whitaker

1998:

The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden (winner)
Shopping by Gavin Kramer
The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills
Jelly Roll by Luke Sutherland

1999:

White City Blue by Tim Lott (winner)
The Great Ideas by Suzanne Cleminshaw
Our Fathers by Andrew O'Hagan
A Foreign Country by Francine Stock

2000:

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (winner)
Under the Skin by Michael Faber
Danny Boy by Jo-Anne Goodwin
Born Free by Laura Hird

2001:

Something Like a Horse by Sid Smith (winner)
The Oversight by Will Eaves
Burning Worm by Carl Tighe
August by Gerard Woodward

2002:

The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht (winner)
The End of My Tether by Neil Astley
Homage to a Firing Squad by Tariq Goddard
The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru

2003:

Vernon God Little by D B C Pierre (winner)
Buddha Da by Anne Donovan
An Evening of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray
An Empty Room by Talitha Stevenson

2004:

Eve Green by Susan Fletcher (winner)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Land as Viewed from the Sea by Richard Collins
The Maze by Panos Karnezis

2005:

The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw (winner)
26a by Diana Evans
The Short Day Dying by Peter Hobbs
Gem Squash Tokoloshe by Rachel Zadok

Costa Debut Novel Awards