Whitbread Award Winners 2005

This is the second time that my vote for the Man Booker ends up winning the Whitbread Best Novel instead. The last time that happened was for Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the God at Night-Time. So it's a close miss, but am I good at my job or what? ;p

From The Guardian

Ali Smith beat Salman Rushdie, Nick Hornby and Christopher Wilson to the novel award with The Accidental, her first full-length novel, which had previously lost out to John Banville's The Sea in 2005's Man Booker prize contest. The judging panel, headed by novelist Philippa Gregory, described the story of 12-year-old Astrid, who is spending the summer with her family in Norfolk, as "a glorious work of fiction that inspired both laughter and sadness."

All the Whitbread Winners:

Novel: Ali Smith's The Accidental
First Novel: Tash Aw's The Harmony Silk Factory
Poetry Collection: Christopher Logue's Cold Calls
Biography: Hilary Spurling's Matisse The Master
Children's Book: Kate Thompson's The New Policeman

Official Whitbread Site