Husband and wife cast as literary rivals

The novelist and playwright Michael Frayn and the biographer Claire Tomalin have been shortlisted for this year's Whitbread Book of the Year, the first time a husband and wife have been pitted against one another for the prize.

The £35,000 Whitbread prize, now in its 31st year, is unique among literary awards in having novels, biographies, poetry and children's books competing against each other. Frayn is on the novel shortlist for his Second World War story Spies; Tomalin is on the biography shortlist for Samuel Pepys: the Unequalled Self.

Both the novel and first novel shortlists are all-male. The Story of Lucy Gault, a Booker prize nominee, by William Trevor is on the shortlist for best novel alongside Rumours of a Hurricane by Tim Lott and White Lightning by Justin Cartwright. Trevor is a past winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year, while Lott is a previous first novel winner and Cartwright is a past winner in the best novel category.

Women authors dominate in the biography award. Tomalin's life of Pepys is competing against studies of the spy Anthony Blunt, the Mrs Miniver author Jan Struther and Rosalind Franklin, the scientist said to have played a main role in the discovery of DNA.

Overall, this year's Whitbread prize attracted a record number of 447 entries, with the highest number so far of entries, 101, in the biography category, indicating the current resurgence in the genre.

Category winners will be announced on 8 January and each will receive £5,000. The five finalists then compete for the overall prize, worth a further £25,000, which will be announced at a ceremony in London on 28 January.

The judges for the awards include the authors Joanna Trollope and Michael Dobbs, the poet Wendy Cope, and the GQ editor Dylan Jones. Two schoolchildren have joined the CBBC presenter Lizo Mzimba on the judging panel for the children's book award.

The Whitbread Shortlist

Novel Award

White Lightning ­ Justin Cartwright

Spies ­ Michael Frayn

Rumours Of A Hurricane ­ Tim Lott

The Story Of Lucy Gault ­ William Trevor

First Novel Award

The End Of My Tether ­ Neil Astley

Homage To A Firing Squad ­ Tariq Goddard

The Impressionist ­ Hari Kunzru

The Song Of Names ­ Norman Lebrecht

Poetry Award

Something For The Ghosts ­ David Constantine

The Ice Age ­ Paul Farley

Voodoo Shop ­ Ruth Padel

The Beautiful Lie ­ Sheenagh Pugh

Biography Award

Anthony Blunt: His Lives ­ Miranda Carter

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady Of DNA ­ Brenda Maddox

The Real Mrs Miniver ­ Ysenda Maxtone Graham

Pepys: The Unequalled Self ­ Claire Tomalin

Children's Book Award

Exodus ­ Julie Bertagna

Saffy's Angel ­ Hilary McKay

Sorceress ­ Celia Rees

Mortal Engines ­ Philip Reeve