Whitbread Book Awards

The Whitbread Book Awards are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. The awards are named after and funded by Whitbread plc, a leading British leisure company.

The Process

Currently each year winners are chosen by five separate judging panels picking from different shortlists in five different categories

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The categories are:

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• Best novel
• Best first novel
• Children's
• Poetry
• Biography

Each category winner receives £5000. One of the category winners is selected as the "Book of the Year" and given a further £25 000. The overall Whitbread book of the year is chosen by a judging panel that comprises five judges from the previous category round and four new ones.

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The category winners do not have to be British but must be resident in the UK for at least six months of the year.

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