The author Philip Pullman has won the Whitbread Book of the Year award for the final book in his fantasy trilogy, 'The Amber Spyglass'.
He is the first children's author to ever win the prestigious UK prize, and was described as the "overwhelming" choice for the award.
'The Amber Sypglass' faced competition from Patrick Neate's 'Twelve Bar Blues' (Best Novel), Selima Hill's 'Bunny' (Best Poetry Collection), Sid Smith's 'Something Like A House' (Best First Novel) and Diana Souhami's 'Selkirk's Island' (Best Biography) for the £30,000stg prize.
Collecting his prize, Pullman said he was "speechless" adding that the award proved that "children's books belong with the rest in the general field, in the general market place for books and in the general conversation about books."
'The Amber Spyglass' has been described as "head and shoulders" above the hugely successful Harry Potter novels written by JK Rowling.
In January 2000, Rowling won Best Children's Book but was beaten to the main prize by Irish poet Seamus Heaney.
Last year's Whitbread winner was Matthew Kneale for his novel 'English Passengers'.
