Has the Whitbread Children's Book Award always been part of the main prize?

Whitbread is delighted to have been at the forefront of promoting the importance of children’s books within the UK’s wide and varied literary tradition. 

There have been many changes to the structure of the Whitbread Book Awards over the years, but the Children’s Book category has always been a part of it.  However for two years – from 1996 to 1998 – although the winner of this category was selected by the final judging panel and received a greater prize than other categories, it wasn’t judged against the winners of the other categories for the Whitbread Book of the Year. 

Since 1998, the Children’s Book Award has been judged against the other category winners for the main Whitbread Book of the Year by the final judging panel.