1999
BOOK OF THE YEAR
BEOWULF
Seamus Heaney
Faber & Faber
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
J K Rowling
Bloomsbury
First Novel Award
White City Blue
Tim Lott
Viking
Novel Award
Music & Silence
Rose Tremain
Chatto & Windus
Biography Award
Berlioz Volume 2
David Cairns
Allen Lane The Penguin Press
Poetry Award
Beowulf
Seamus Heaney
Faber & Faber
1998
BOOK OF THE YEAR
BIRTHDAY LETTERS
Ted Hughes
Faber & Faber
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
SKELLIG
David Almond
Hodder Children's Books
First Novel Award
The Last King Of Scotland
Giles Foden
Faber & Faber
Novel Award
Leading The Cheers
Justin Cartwright
Sceptre
Biography Award
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
Amanda Foreman
HarperCollins
Poetry Award
Birthday Letters
Ted Hughes
Faber & Faber
1997
BOOK OF THE YEAR
TALES FROM OVID
Ted Hughes
Faber & Faber
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
AQUILA
Andrew Norriss
Hamish Hamilton
First Novel Award
The Ventriloquist's Tale
Pauline Melville
Bloomsbury
Novel Award
Quarantine
Jim Crace
Viking
Biography Award
Victor Hugo
Graham Robb
Picador
Poetry Award
Tales from Ovid
Ted Hughes
Faber & Faber
1996
BOOK OF THE YEAR
THE SPIRIT LEVEL
Seamus Heaney
Faber & Faber
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
THE TULIP TOUCH
Anne Fine
Hamish Hamilton
First Novel Award
The Debt to Pleasure
John Lanchester
Picador
Novel Award
Every Man for Himself
Beryl Bainbridge
Duckworth
Biography Award
Thomas Cranmer: A Life
Diarmaid MacCulloch
Yale University Press
Poetry Award
The Spirit Level
Seamus Heaney
Faber & Faber
NB: The structure of the Awards changed again in 1996 when the Whitbread Childrenâs Book of the Year became an award in its own right (ie not judged against the other four categories) for the first time, with prize money of £10,000.
1995
BOOK OF THE YEAR
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM
Kate Atkinson
Doubleday/Black Swan
First Novel
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Kate Atkinson
Doubleday/Black Swan
Novel
The Moor's Last Sigh
Salman Rushdie
Jonathan Cape
Biography
Gladstone
Roy Jenkins
Macmillan
Poetry
Gunpowder
Bernard O'Donoghue
Chatto & Windus
Children's Novel
The Wreck of the Zanzibar
Michael Morpurgo
Heinemann/Mammoth
1994
BOOK OF THE YEAR
FELICIA'S JOURNEY
William Trevor
Viking
First Novel
The Longest Memory
Fred D'Aguiar
Chatto & Windus
Novel
Felicia's Journey
William Trevor
Viking
Biography
D H Lawrence: The Married Man
Brenda Maddox
Sinclair-Stevenson
Poetry
Out of Danger
James Fenton
Penguin Poetry
Children's Novel
Gold Dust
Geraldine McCaughrean
OUP
1993
BOOK OF THE YEAR
THEORY OF WAR
Joan Brady
Andre Deutsch
First Novel
Saving Agnes
Rachel Cusk
Macmillan
Novel
Theory of War
Joan Brady
Andre Deutsch
Biography
Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life
Andrew Motion
Faber & Faber
Poetry
Mean Time
Carol Ann Duffy
Anvil Press
Children's Novel
Flour Babies
Anne Fine
Hamish Hamilton
1992
BOOK OF THE YEAR
SWING HAMMER SWING!
Jeff Torrington
Secker & Warburg
First Novel
Swing Hammer Swing!
Jeff Torrington
Secker & Warburg
Novel
Poor Things
Alasdair Gray
Bloomsbury
Biography
Trollope
Victoria Glendinning
Hutchinson
Poetry
The Gaze of the Gorgon
Tony Harrison
Bloodaxe Books
Children's Novel
The Great Elephant Chase
Gillian Cross
OUP
1991
BOOK OF THE YEAR
A LIFE OF PICASSO
John Richardson
Jonathan Cape
First Novel
Alma Cogan
Gordon Burn
Secker & Warburg
Novel
The Queen of the Tambourine
Jane Gardam
Sinclair-Stevenson
Biography
A Life of Picasso
John Richardson
Jonathan Cape
Poetry
Gorse Fires
Michael Longley
Secker & Warburg
Children's Novel
Harvey Angell
Diana Hendry
Julia MacRae
1990
BOOK OF THE YEAR
HOPEFUL MONSTERS
Nicholas Mosley
Secker & Warburg
First Novel
The Buddha of Suburbia
Hanif Kureishi
Faber & Faber
Novel
Hopeful Monsters
Nicholas Mosley
Secker & Warburg
Biography
A A Milne: His Life
Ann Thwaite
Faber & Faber
Poetry
Daddy, Daddy
Paul Durcan
The Blackstaff Press
Childrenâs Novel
AK
Peter Dickinson
Victor Gollancz
1989
BOOK OF THE YEAR
COLERIDGE: EARLY VISIONS
Richard Holmes
Hodder & Stoughton
First Novel
Gerontius
James Hamilton-Paterson
Macmillan
Novel
The Chymical Wedding
Lindsay Clarke
Jonathan Cape
Biography
Coleridge: Early Visions
Richard Holmes
Hodder & Stoughton
Poetry
Shibboleth
Michael Donaghy
OUP
Children's Novel
Why Weeps the Brogan?
Hugh Scott
Walker Books
1988
BOOK OF THE YEAR
THE COMFORTS OF MADNESS
Paul Sayer
Constable
First Novel
The Comforts of Madness
Paul Sayer
Constable
Novel
The Satanic Verses
Salman Rushdie
Viking
Biography
Tolstoy
A N Wilson
Hamish Hamilton
Poetry
The Automatic Oracle
Peter Porter
OUP
Children's Novel
Awaiting Developments
Judy Allen
Julia MacRae
1987
BOOK OF THE YEAR
UNDER THE EYE OF THE CLOCK
Christopher Nolan
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
First Novel
The Other Garden
Francis Wyndham
Jonathan Cape
Novel
The Child in Time
Ian McEwan
Jonathan Cape
Biography
Under the Eye of the Clock
Christopher Nolan
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Poetry
The Haw Lantern
Seamus Heaney
Faber & Faber
Children's Novel
A Little Lower than the Angels
Geraldine McCaughrean
OUP
1986
BOOK OF THE YEAR
AN ARTIST OF THE FLOATING WORLD
Kazuo Ishiguro
Faber & Faber
First Novel
Continent
Jim Crace
Heinemann
Novel
An Artist of the Floating World
Kazuo Ishiguro
Faber & Faber
Biography
Gilbert White
Richard Mabey
Century Hutchinson
Poetry
Stet
Peter Reading
Secker & Warburg
Children's Novel
The Coal House
Andrew Taylor
Collins
1985
BOOK OF THE YEAR
ELEGIES
Douglas Dunn
Faber & Faber
First Novel
Oranges are not the only Fruit
Jeanette Winterson
Pandora Press
Novel
Hawksmoor
Peter Ackroyd
Hamish Hamilton
Biography
Hugh Dalton
Ben Pimlott
Jonathan Cape
Poetry
Elegies
Douglas Dunn
Faber & Faber
Childrenâs Novel
The Nature of the Beast
Janni Howker
Julia MacRae
NB: The Whitbread Book of the Year was awarded for the first time in 1985 when the format of the Awards was changed. Prior to that, the Whitbread Literary Awards (as they were then called) were given as follows:
1984
First Novel
A Parish of Rich Women
James Buchan
Hamish Hamilton
Novel
Kruger's Alp
Christopher Hope
Heinemann
Biography
T S Eliot
Peter Ackroyd
Hamish Hamilton
Short Story
Tomorrow is our Permanent Address
Diane Rowe
Childrenâs Novel
The Queen of the Pharisees' Children
Barbara Willard
Julia MacRae
1983
First Novel
Flying to Nowhere
John Fuller
Salamander Press
Novel
Fools of Fortune
William Trevor
Bodley Head
Joint Biography
Vita
Victoria Glendinning
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
King George V
Kenneth Rose
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Childrenâs Novel
The Witches
Roald Dahl
Jonathan Cape
1982
First Novel
On the Black Hill
Bruce Chatwin
Jonathan Cape
Novel
Young Shoulders
John Wain
Macmillan
Biography
Bismarck
Edward Crankshaw
Macmillan
Children's Novel
The Song of Pentecost
W J Corbett
Methuen
1981
First Novel
A Good Man in Africa
William Boyd
Hamish Hamilton
Novel
Silver's City
Maurice Leitch
Secker & Warburg
Biography
Monty: The Making of a General
Nigel Hamilton
Hamish Hamilton
Children's Novel
The Hollow Land
Jane Gardam
Julia MacRae
1980
Novel and Book of the Year
How Far Can You Go?
David Lodge
Secker & Warburg
Biography
On the Edge of Paradise:
A C Benson the Diarist
David Newsome
John Murrary
Children's Novel
John Diamond
Leon Garfield
Kestrel
1979
Novel
The Old Jest
Jennifer Johnston
Hamish Hamilton
Autobiography
About Time
Penelope Mortimer
Allen Lane
Children's Novel
Tulku
Peter Dickinson
Victor Gollancz
1978
Novel
Picture Palace
Paul Theroux
Hamish Hamilton
Biography
Lloyd George: The People's Champion
John Grigg
Methuen
Childrenâs Book
The Battle of Bubble & Squeak
Philippa Pearce
Andre Deutsch
1977
Novel
Injury Time
Beryl Bainbridge
Duckworth
Biography
Mary Curzon
Nigel Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Childrenâs Book
No End to Yesterday
Shelagh Macdonald
Andre Deutsch
1976
Novel
The Children of Dynmouth
William Trevor
Bodley Head
Biography
Elizabeth Gaskell
Winifred Gerin
OUP
Children's Book
A Stitch in Time
Penelope Lively
William Heinemann
1975
Novel
Docherty
William McIlvanney
Allen & Unwin
Autobiography
In Our Infancy
Helen Corke
Cambridge University Press
First Book
The Improbable Puritan:
A Life of Bulstrode Whitelock
Ruth Spalding
Faber & Faber
1974
Novel
The Sacred & Profane Love Machine
Iris Murdoch
Chatto & Windus
Biography
Poor Dear Brendan
Andrew Boyle
Hutchinson
Joint Children's Books
How Tom Beat Captain Najork & His Hired Sportsmen
Russell Hoban & Quentin Blake
Jonathan Cape
The Emperor's Winding Sheet
Jill Paton Walsh
Macmillan
First Book
The Life & Death of Mary Wollstonecraft
Claire Tomalin
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
1973
Novel
The Chip Chip Gatherers
Shiva Naipaul
Andre Deutsch
Biography
CB: A Life of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
John Wilson
Constable
Children's Book
The Butterfly Ball & The Grasshopper's Feast
Alan Aldridge & William Plomer
Jonathan Cape
1972
Novel
The Bird of Night
Susan Hill
Hamish Hamilton
Biography
Trollope
James Pope-Hennessey
Jonathan Cape
Children's Book
The Diddakoi
Rumer Godden
Macmillan
1971
Novel
The Destiny Waltz
Gerda Charles
Eyre & Spottiswoode
Biography
Henrik Ibsen
Michael Meyer
Hart-Davis
Poetry
Mercian Hymns
Geoffrey Hill
Andre Deutsch
