Costa Book Awards

ENTRIES ARE OPEN FOR THE 2019 COSTA BOOK AWARDS 

The Booksellers Association administer the Costa Book Awards, which is one of the most prestigious and popular literary prizes in the UK and recognises some of the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland.

The Costa Book Awards has five categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book. The winner in each category receives £5,000. One of these five books is selected as the overall winner of the Book of the Year and receives a further £30,000, making a total prize fund of £55,000. It is the only prize which places children's books alongside adult books in this way.

The Awards started life in 1971 as the Whitbread Literary Awards. From 1985 they were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2006, when Costa Coffee took over ownership - the year that both Costa and the Book Awards celebrated their 35^th anniversary.

ELIGIBILITY
- Books for consideration must have been written by authors whose primary residence (ie resident for over six months of the year) has been in the United Kingdom or Ireland since 1 November 2016.  UK or Irish nationality is not essential
- The selection will be made from books first published in the English language and first physically (ie not digitally) published in the UK or Ireland between 1 November 2018 and 31 October 2019. 
- Self-published books and books solely published online are not eligible.
- The author must have been alive on 1 November 2018.
 
ENTRY
- Five copies of each book, accompanied by a completed Entry Form, must be sent by Wednesday 26 June 2019 to:  Costa Book Awards, The Booksellers Association, 6 Bell Yard, London  WC2A 2JR
- Entries must be in book form.
- Books published between 26 June and 31 October 2019 may be submitted in page proof form if necessary, after obtaining permission from The Booksellers Association but must be submitted in book form by 31 July 2019

Download this year’s Entry Form here


Costa Book Awards category winners 2018
  - Costa First Novel Award: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton 
 
- Costa Novel Award: Normal People by Sally Rooney 
 
- Costa Biography Award: The Cut Out Girl by Bart van Es  (Book of the Year winner!)
 
- Costa Poetry Award: Assurances by J. O. Morgan 
 
- Costa Children's Book Award: The Skylarks’ War by Hilary McKay 

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www.costa.co.uk/costa-book-award
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