THE CURIOUS INCIDENT

OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME 

WINS

2003 WHITBREAD BOOK OF THE YEAR

Mark Haddon won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year Award for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  The announcement was made on Tuesday 27 January at an awards ceremony at The Brewery in Central London.

The bookmakers’ overwhelming odds-on favourite and general public’s ‘Book of the Year’ - as selected by the hundreds of votes cast via the Whitbread Book Awards website – won against one of the most acclaimed collections of finalists in the Whitbread Awards’ 33-year history. 

The finalists included first-time novelist DBC Pierre for Vernon God Little (2003 Man Booker Prize winner); poet Don Paterson for Landing Light (2003 TS Eliot Prize winner); children’s author David Almond for The Fire-Eaters (Smarties Gold Book Award 2003); and celebrated biographer DJ Taylor for his biography Orwell: The Life. 

Sir John Banham, Chairman of Whitbread PLC, presented the author with his award and £25,000 cheque.  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is published in both an adult and a children’s version, is the sixth novel to win the Whitbread Book of the Year since 1985.  It has already won numerous children’s and teenage fiction awards and was initially entered for the Children’s Book Award as well, but was withdrawn by the publishers in preference to the Novel Award.  (Whitbread Book Awards rules stipulate that books may only be entered in one category.) 

The Whitbread Book Awards actively promote the enjoyment of reading, working in partnership with amazon.co.uk, CILIP (previously the Library Association), the National Reading Campaign and the Booksellers Association.