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.[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]
| Costa Book Awards | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Awarded for | English-language books by writers based in the UK and Ireland |
| Country | United Kingdom and Ireland |
| Presented by | Costa Coffee |
| Formerly called | Whitbread Book Awards |
| First awarded | 1971 |
| Last awarded | 2021 |
| Website | costa |
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
editThe 1989 Whitbread Book Award for Best Novel was first awarded to The War Zone by Alexander Stuart.[5] 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".[6] 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.[7]
The awards were discontinued in 2022, with the 2021 awards being the last ones made.[4][8] 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).[9]
Process
editThere 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".[1][2] 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.[10]
Short stories
editThe 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.[11] 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.[3][12]
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.[12]
Winners
editBold font and blue ribbon (
) distinguish the overall Costa/Whitbread Book of the Year.[1]
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
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "CBA Past Winners 2015 Version" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ a b "CBA Past Shortlists 2015 Version" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ a b Alison Flood (17 July 2012). "Costa's new short story award to be judged anonymously". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
- ^ a b Barnett, David (10 June 2022). "Costa book awards scrapped suddenly after 50 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ^ Kelly, Laura (11 January 2000). "The Wrath of Roth". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021.
- ^ "The War Zone Diary", page 222 of the War Zone, Stuart, Alexander, ISBN 0385249535, Doubleday, 1989
- ^ David Streitfeld (10 December 1989). "Book Report". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017.
- ^ Armitstead, Claire (23 June 2022). "Shock ending: how the Costa book awards changed reading – and pitted husband against wife". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ^ Shaffi, Sarah (6 July 2022). "Children's books world reacts to 'horrible loss' of Blue Peter book awards". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023.
- ^
Danuta Kean (2 January 2017). "On eve of Costa awards, experts warn that top books prizes are harming fiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
The biggest three prizes, including the Costas, require a £5,000 fee from publishers if a book is shortlisted. This is a contribution towards marketing and should, the organisers claim, be offset by increases in sales.
- ^ "The Costa Short Story Award terms and conditions of entry" (PDF). Costa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ^ a b Alison Flood (28 November 2012). "Costa short story prize to be decided by public vote". Alison Flood. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
- ^ "Costa Short Story Award" Archived 15 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Costa Book Awards. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
- ^ "Costa Book Awards 2017" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. January 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Costa Book Awards 2018: the category award winners are..." BBC. January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ Chandler, Mark (28 January 2020). "Costa Book of the Year won by Fairweather's The Volunteer". The Bookseller. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ Doyle, Martin (6 January 2020). "Costa Book Awards 2019 winners revealed". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ "Costa Book of the Year: 'Utterly original' Mermaid of Black Conch wins". BBC. January 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ "Costa Book Awards 2021 category winners announced". Costa. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
External links
edit
- Official website
- Costa Book Awards collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Injecting Caffeine Into the Whitbread (Now Costa) Book Awards at The Book Standard
