Hugh Grant Joins Final Judging Panel for the 2004 Whitbread Book Awards
FINAL JUDGING PANEL ANNOUNCED FOR 2015 COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR
- James Heneage, writerand founder of Ottakar’s, to chair
- Comedian, writer and actor Katy Brand, actress and author Jane Asher and broadcaster, writer and actress Janet Ellisconfirmed as final judges
- Writers Louise Doughty, Matt Haig, Penny Junor, Martyn Bedford and Julia Copuscomplete the panel
London, 17December 2015:Writer, James Heneage,founder of the Ottakar’s chain of bookshops and, more recently, the Chalke Valley History Festival, will chair the final judging panelwhich selects the overall winner of the prestigious2015 Costa Book of the Year,it was announced today.
The Costa Book Awards is the only major UK book prize that is open solely to authors resident in the UK and Ireland and also, uniquely, recognises the most enjoyable books across five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book - published in the last year.
Originally established in 1971 by Whitbread Plc, Costaannounced its takeover of the sponsorship of the UK's most prestigious book prize in 2006. 2015 marks the 44th year of the Book Awards.
The final nine-member panel that selects the overall Costa Book of the Year is made up of a Chairman, a judge from each category panel and three other well-known people in the public eye – and who are outside of the publishing world - who love reading and whose opinions the public would respect.
James Heneage will chair the panel this year which includescomedian and Peep Show actressKaty Brand,actress and author, Jane Asher, and writer, broadcaster and former Blue Peter presenter, Janet Ellis.
The five category judging panels are represented by writersLouise Doughty (Novel), Matt Haig(First Novel), Penny Junor (Biography), Martyn Bedford (Children’s Book) and Julia Copus (Poetry).
The final judges will meet on Tuesday 26th January 2016 to select the winner of the Costa Book of the Year, which will be announced at an awards ceremony later that evening.
The ceremony, hosted bypresenter and broadcasterPenny Smith, will take place at Quaglino’s in central London.
“The Costa Book Awards recognise and celebrate excellent books that can be enjoyed by everyone,” commented Christopher Rogers, Managing Director at Costa. “We're thrilled to have as our final judging panel nine passionate readers who we know will, between them, do an excellent job of selecting the 2015 Costa Book of the Year.”
Former final judges have included Robert Peston, Dame Diana Rigg, Sharleen Spiteri, Alexander Armstrong, Richard Osman,Jenny Agutter, Mark Watson, Hugh Dennis, Elizabeth McGovern, David Morrissey,Rosamund Pike, Gary Kemp,Erin O’Connor, Alex James,Emilia Fox, Marie Helvin, Michael Morpurgo, Hugh Grant, Caroline Quentin, Ralph Fiennes, Jerry Hall, Ian Hislop, Jonathan Ross and Kirsty Young.
Formerwinners of the Book of the Year include Helen Macdonald (2014), Nathan Filer (2013),Hilary Mantel (2012), Andrew Miller (2011), Jo Shapcott (2010), Christopher Reid (2009),Sebastian Barry (2008), A.L. Kennedy (2007), Stef Penney (2006), Hilary Spurling (2005), Andrea Levy (2004), Mark Haddon (2003), Kate Atkinson (1995), Philip Pullman, Seamus Heaney and the late Ted Hughes.
Each of the five category award-winning authors receives £5,000 and the author of the overall Costa Book of the Year will be presented with a cheque for £30,000. The winner of the Costa Short Story Award – now in its fourth year and voted for by the general public - will also be announced at the awards ceremony.
For more information on this year’s Costa Book Awards, go to.
-ENDS-
For further press information, images or to arrange an interview with a member of the final judging panel, please contact:
Amanda Johnson
Costa Book Awards Press and Publicity
Telephone: 07715 922180 (mobile)
Email:
2015 Costa Book Awards: Final Judging Panel Biographies
James Heneage (Chairman): Writer
James Heneage founded the Ottakar's bookshop chain which grew to 150 shops before being sold to Waterstones in 2005. Since then, he has been a Man Booker Prize judge, chaired the Cheltenham Literary Festival and started his own Chalke Valley History Festival. He has written three historical novels set at the end of the Byzantine Empire and is now completing a fourth.
Jane Asher: Actress and Author
Jane Asher has been working professionally in film, theatre and radio since she was five years old. She has worked extensively in both the National Theatre and the West End, and most recently appeared on stage in The Gathered Leaves at the Park Theatre, London. She has just finished filming the second series of BBC TV’s Eve, and will next be seen in Crossing Lines with Donald Sutherland on Netflix in early 2016. Jane has written over twodozen baking and lifestyle books, and three bestselling novels.
Martyn Bedford: Author (representing the Children’s Book Award category)
Martyn Bedford’s debut novel for young adults, Flip (Walker Books, 2011), won four regional prizes and was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award. His second, Never Ending, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and his third, Twenty Questions for Gloria, is being published in spring 2016 in the UK, the US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands.
He is also the author of five novels for adults, including the award-winning Acts of Revision, and numerous short stories. Between them, his books have been translated into fifteen languages. A former journalist and graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, Martyn is a senior lecturer in the English Department at Leeds Trinity University. He lives in West Yorkshire with his wife and two teenage daughters.
Katy Brand: Writer, Comedian and Actor
Katy Brand is an award-winning writer, comedian and actor. She has appeared in films (Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang), TV shows (Peep Show,QI, Psychobitches), radio programmes (Mouth Trap,Infinite Monkey Cage, News Quiz) and live events (Victoria Wood’s Angina Monologues,The Twitter Joke Trial Benefit Gig).
Between 2007 and 2009 she wrote and performed her own ITV sketch show -Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show -taking it out on a live UK tour in 2010. She was a columnist forRevealmagazine for three years, and went on to write a weekly column for theDaily Telegraph. Her debut novel, Brenda Monk is Funny, was published in 2014.
Julia Copus: Poet and Children’s Author (representing the Poetry Award category)
Julia Copus is a poet and children’s author. All three of her collections are Poetry Book Society Recommendations. She’s won First Prize in the National Poetry Competition and the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. The World's Two Smallest Humans was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and the 2013 Costa Poetry Award. From 2005, she has worked as a Fellow and Advisory Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund. In 2008 she was made an Honorary Fellow at the University of Exeter.
Louise Doughty: Novelist (representing the Novel Award category)
Louise Doughty is the author of seven novels, includingApple Tree Yard which has been translated into 23 languages worldwide, and Whatever You Love, shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Novel Awardandlonglisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has also won awards for radio drama and fiction,is a critic and cultural commentator for UK and international newspapers, and broadcasts regularly for the BBC.
Janet Ellis: Actress, Broadcaster and Writer
Janet trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has appeared in theatres up and down the country and on TV in everything from Dr Who and The Sweeney to Jigsaw. She presented Blue Peter for four years in the eightiesand, since leaving, has worked as an actress, presenter, broadcaster and writer. She is a frequent contributor to radio and TV and is a regular panellist on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff. Her first novel, The Butcher's Hook, will be published by Two Roads in February 2016. She has three children and four grandchildren. And a dog.
Matt Haig: Writer (representing the First Novel Award category)
Matt Haighas written several novels including his bestselling debut,The Last Family in England,TheRadleysandThe Humans. He isalsothe author ofaward-winning children's novels and his new children’s bestseller, A Boy Called Christmas,is out now and tells the story of Father Christmas as a boy. His most recent book,Reasons to Stay Alive,is a non-fictionbestseller about his recoveryfrom depression.
Penny Junor: Journalist, Writer and Broadcaster(representing the Biography Award category)
Penny Junor is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of many bestselling biographies including ones of both the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince William and two British Prime Ministers. She also co-wrote bestselling autobiographies of Pattie Boyd and Sir Cliff Richard. For many years she presented The Travel Show on BBC2 and Channel 4’s award-winning consumer programme,4 What It’s Worth. She is married with children and grandchildren and lives in Wiltshire.