There was disappointment for Dublin writer Anne Enright and Cork-based author Sara Baume at the Costa Book Awards on Monday night as their shortlisted novels missed out on the overall category prizes.
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 books across five categories - Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book - published in the last year.
Enright had been nominated for the Novel Award for her Irish family study The Green Road but lost out to Kate Atkinson's time-jumping mystery A God in Ruins. Atkinson previously won the award in 2013 for her companion novel, Life After Life.
Lancashire-born and Cork-raised Baume was shortlisted for the First Novel Award for her acclaimed one-man-and-his-dog chronicle Spill Simmer Falter Wither, but the award went to Andrew Michael Hurley for his gothic horror The Loney.
Announcing our Fabulous Five! The 2015 Costa Book Awards category winners are revealed ... pic.twitter.com/2PVH4C9uwo
— Costa Book Awards (@CostaBookAwards) January 4, 2016
Andrea Wulf won the Biography Award for The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt, The Lost Hero of Science.
Former Poetry Award winner Don Paterson was again honoured for his new collection, 40 Sonnets.
The Children's Book Award went to Frances Hardinge for Victorian murder-mystery The Lie Tree.
The five category winners now go forward to compete for the Costa Book of the Year award, with the winner announced on January 20.
