The Costa Book Awards is one of the UK's most
prestigious and popular literary prizes and recognises some of the
most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and
Ireland.
It's unique for having five categories: First Novel,
Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book.
The winner in each category receives £5,000, and then one
of the five winning books is selected as the overall Costa Book of
the Year, receiving a further £30,000, and making a total prize
fund of £55,000. The Costa is the only prize which places
children's books alongside adult books in this way.
In 2012, the Costa Short Story Award was launched. This is
an award for a single story and is not voted for against the other
categories. Six shortlisted stories were published on this
website for the public to download, read and vote for at the end of
November with two runners-up and the winner (Avril Joy
for Millie and Bird) being announced at the
Costa Book Awards ceremony in January 2013. They remain
available on this website to read.
The Costa Book Awards started life in 1971 as the
Whitbread Literary Awards. From 1985 they were known as the
Whitbread Book Awards until 2006, when Costa Coffee took over
ownership from Whitbread.
Since 1971, the awards have rewarded a wide range of
excellent books and authors across all genres.
Click here
to see them all.
29/01/13
BRING UP THE BODIES BY HILARY MANTEL NAMED 2012 COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR
Bring Up the Bodies by novelist Hilary Mantel has won the title
of 2012 Costa Book of the Year. The sequel to Mantel's
award-winning novel Wolf Hall and the second book of a trilogy,
Bring Up the Bodies continues the life of Thomas Cromwell and
explores one of the most mystifying and frightening episodes in
English history, the destruction of Anne Boleyn.
The announcement was made this evening (Tuesday 29th January) at
an awards ceremony held at Quaglino's in central London.
Click here for full details.
29/01/13
AVRIL JOY WINS INAUGURAL COSTA SHORT STORY AWARD
Former prison manager and now full-time writer, Avril Joy, from
Witton-le-Wear in Bishop Auckland, has won the inaugural Costa
Short Story Award. She beat five other writers, including
bestselling author Salley Vickers, in a public vote where the
identities of all six writers were unknown.
Click here for full details.
24/01/13
Costa Short Stories - Writers Announced
We're thrilled that we can at last reveal the identities of the
six writers shortlisted for the first-ever Costa Short Story Award.
They are (in alphabetical order): Guy Le Jeune, Avril Joy,
Sheila Llewellyn, Chioma Okereke, Angela Readman and Salley
Vickers.
The winner and two runners-up (voted for by the public) will be
announced at next week's Costa Book Awards ceremony. For more
details on each of the six writers, see below.
Click here for full details.