Whitbread Book of the Year judge joins category winners in fight for pounds 21,000 title

Andrew Motion (centre) gained a small niche in book prize history yesterday as both a judge and award winner in the Whitbread Book of the Year, writes David Lister.

He won the biography award for Philip Larkin, A Writer's Life, and was one of the judges for the poetry award won by Carol Ann Duffy (second right), with Mean Time. Other category winners included: Joan Brady (far right) in the novel category for Theory of War; Rachel Cusk (far left) in the first novel category for Saving Agnes; and Anne Fine (second left) in the children's section for Flour Babies. All five receive pounds 2,000. The books will be pitted against one another for the overall Whitbread Book of the Year prize, worth a further pounds 21,000, to be announced on 25 January.

(Photograph omitted)