Welcome

The Costa Book Awards have honoured some of the most outstanding books of the year in five categories for the last 50 years.

Costa Book Awards ends after 50 amazing years

Costa Book Awards 2020 shortlisted books After 50 years of celebrating some of the most enjoyable books written by hugely talented authors from across the UK and Ireland, Costa Coffee has taken the difficult decision to end the Costa Book Awards. This means that the 2021 Costa Book Awards held in February 2022 was our 50th and final awards.

Established in 1971, the Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Book Awards between 1971 and 2005) aimed to share and raise the profile of some of the best books published each year. We are incredibly proud to have played a part in supporting some of the best-selling authors of the last 50 years as well as trailblazing diverse and fresh voices, tackling a broad range of themes and ideas, across fiction, poetry and biography. And we are honoured to have helped both these new and established talents reach a wider audience of readers. Watch highlights from the last 50 years here.

We would like to thank all those who have been involved and supported the Costa Book Awards over the last 50 years as we close this chapter.

Got a question?

We receive many enquiries about every aspect of the Costa Book Awards, so we've taken all the most frequently asked questions and answered them here.

The Costa Book of the Year
2021 winner

We’re proud to announce that The Kids by Hannah Lowe has been named Costa Book of the Year 2021. Congratulations to Hannah.

Costa Book Awards Winner Hannah Lowe The Kids Poetry Category Winner

The Costa Short Story Award 2021 winner

Congratulations to writer L. E. Yates who's won the 2021 Costa Short Story Award. Read the winning story here.

L. E. Yates winner of the 2021 Costa Book Awards Costa Short Story Award