Welcome

Welcome to the website of the Whitbread Book Awards, the prize which highlights some of the many well-written, enjoyable British books published during the past year.  The Awards were launched in 1971 by Whitbread PLC, now one of the UK’s leading leisure companies, providing enjoyment to many millions of customers each week in its restaurants, hotels and active leisure clubs.  For further information about Whitbread and its brands, please go to Whitbread PLC.

The Whitbread has five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book.  For each category there are three judges – generally an author, a bookseller and a journalist.  They select a shortlist of four books, which includes the winner.  Their criteria is to select well-written, enjoyable books that they would strongly recommend anyone to read.

A nine-member judging panel, which includes the author from each of the original category judging panel together with a Chairman and four other people in the public eye who love reading, selects one book from these five as overall Whitbread Book of the Year. 

If you have any general queries about the Awards, you should find them answered under About the Awards.