The four Whitbread (category) Award winners are announced today, 4 January 2002, as follows:

WHITBREAD FIRST NOVEL AWARD
Something Like a House by Sid Smith

WHITBREAD NOVEL AWARD
Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neate

WHITBREAD POETRY AWARD
Bunny by Selima Hill

WHITBREAD BIOGRAPHY AWARD
Selkirk's Island by Diana Souhami

WHITBREAD FIRST NOVEL AWARD
Something Like A House by Sid Smith

Judges: Brian Case, Giles Foden, Jane Rogers

Sid Smith's hugely-acclaimed first novel set during the Chinese Cultural Revolution is even more extraordinary for the fact that the writer had never been to China - the nearest he'd been was a "one-hour stopover at Hong Kong Airport". But seven years spent in assorted labouring jobs in his youth (he has worked as a docker, builder and dustman), hours trawling through the British library and hunting dusty memoirs through second hand book stalls proved worthwhile - the book, which has been compared to both Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies has been universally praised for its "ring of absolute truth". Smith lives in Islington with his Japanese wife and is a freelance sub-editor.

What the Whitbread judges said: "This is a gripping page-turner that takes the reader into another world containing both beautifully observed detail of the texture of the lives of Chinese peasants, and a range of big ideas about eugenics, biological warfare, politics and the nature of loneliness. As young Tao says in the course of the book, "Every pleasure equals its rarity". It's a rare pleasure to read such an extraordinary first novel."

WHITBREAD NOVEL AWARD
Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neate

Judges: Esther Freud, Mary Loudon, Tim O'Kelly

Only Patrick Neate's second book, following the colourfully titled Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko, Twelve Bar Blues has been described as "an epic tale of jazz and juju, fate, family and friendship". Born in Putney, the Cambridge-educated Neate spent his gap year teaching in Zimbabwe, an experience which he has drawn on for both his novels. He is fascinated by "magic, myth and religion", all themes that permeate his writing. He is also passionate about music, in particular hip-hop and is a part-time DJ - the eponymous twelve bar blues refer to "the most common harmonic progression in jazz". His lyrical story-telling skills too are never in doubt. As the Daily Telegraph said, "If I could choose one current British writer to tell tales around my fantasy campfire, it would be Patrick Neate".

What the Whitbread judges said: "A sprawling and unusual extravaganza of a novel, in which form and content are brilliantly reflected by one another: the ranginess of the story mirrors the arbitrariness of life, while the electrifying prose brings to life characters whose experiences span one century, several cultures and many colours. Vivid, bold and energetic, Patrick Neate sets a high standard for modern fiction."

WHITBREAD POETRY AWARD
Bunny by Selima Hill

Judges: Harry Eyres, Daisy Goodwin, Tobias Hill

Selima Hill lives in Lyme Regis, Dorset and is the only poet to have been shortlisted for the Whitbread, Forward and TS Eliot Prizes - with her seventh collection, Violet. She lives by the sea in Dorset with her ducks, grandchildren and other animals. Bunny, as she herself says, is not "the jolly happy book I was looking forward to writing..". Set in the "haunted house of adolescence", Bunny takes us on a journey through a strange house, peopled by a girl, various aunts, a remote father and a sinister lodger. As Time Out put it - she evokes..the inner childhood world we're supposed to give up as we become adult yet which artists need to draw upon". Selima is currently working on her 2002 Collection, Portrait of My Ex-Husband as a Lily, as well as tutoring at the South Bank Centre and at the Poetry School in London.

What the Whitbread judges said: "A unique voice in British poetry, Selima Hill has taken on a near-impossible subject and from it produces a work that is at once quirky, terrifying and ultimately uplifting."

WHITBREAD BIOGRAPHY AWARD
Selkirk's Island by Diana Souhami

Judges: Mike Brookes-Sullivan, Kathryn Hughes, Stella Tillyard

Selkirk's Island is a post-modern biography - a study of the island and man - Alexander Selkirk- that inspired Daniel Defoe's classic novel, Robinson Crusoe. Acclaimed biographer, Diana Souhami evokes all the strangeness and wonder of his story and interprets the haze created by three centuries of literature and legend, from journals based on those who dumped and rescued Selkirk on the island and from her own adventures there. Souhami herself has said that she lost her heart in Robinson Crusoe Island - "it's the ultimate escape, an unvanquished Pacific Island, 360 miles off the coast of Chile, volcanic and austere. The best thing is the absence of city junk: no cars, no roads and no shops."

What the Whitbread judges said:"The story of the original Robinson Crusoe, Selkirk's Island is a book that is as hypnotic and compelling as the island that forms its real subject. A great adventure story, a great read and a real advance for the art of biography. "

These four winners each receive £5,000 and will now go on to compete for the Whitbread Book of the Year (worth £25,000) alongside the winner of the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year. Both will be selected on Tuesday 22nd January 2002 by a panel of nine judges, chaired by Channel 4 broadcaster and journalist Jon Snow, and then announced at a presentation ceremony at The Brewery, hosted by Katie Derham.

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Notes for Editors:
Photography of authors and bookjackets is available royalty free from website www.whitbread-bookawards.co.uk. High-resolution photography suitable for media reproduction. Please contact Sunita Rappai for password details on 020 7202 2822.