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Founded in 1959 to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth," the WH Smith award is for an author whose book "makes, in the opinion of the judges, the most significant contribution to literature." Authors from the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, or the Irish Republic are eligible. Judging is done by an independent panel of three judges who call in books from publishers. After they have chosen a shortlist a Guest Judge joins them for the selection of the winner. The current value of the award is £10,000.
1959
Patrick White, Voss
1960
Laurie Lee, Cider With
Rosie
1961
Nadine Gordimer, Friday's
Footprint
1962
J. R. Ackerley, We Think
the World of You
1963
Gabriel Fielding, The
Birthday King
1964
Ernst H. Gombrich, Meditations
on a Hobby-Horse
1965
Leonard Woolf, Beginning
Again
1966
R. Ch Hutrchinson, A
Child Possessed
1967
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso
Sea
1968
V. S. Naipaul, The Mimic
Men
1969
Robert Gittings, John
Keats
1970
John Fowles, The French
Lieutenant's Woman
1971
Nan Fairbrother, New
Lives, New Landscapes
1972
Kathleen Raine, The
Lost Country
1973
Brian Moore, Catholics
1974
Anthony Powell, Temporary
Kings
1975
Jon Stallworthy, Wilfred
Owen
1976
Seamus Heaney, North
1977
Ronald Lewin, Slim:
The Standardbearer
1978
Patrick Leigh Fermor, A
Time of Gifts
1979
Mark Girouard, Life
in the English Country House
1980
Thom Gunn, Selected
Poems 1959-1975
1981
Isabel Colegate, The
Shooting Party
1982
George Clare, Last Waltz
in Vienna
1983
A. N. Wilson, Wise Virgin
1984
Philip Larkin, Required
Writing
1985
David Hughes, The Pork
Butcher
1986
Doris Lessing, The Good
Terrorist
1987
Elizabeth Jennings, Collected
Poems 1953-1985
1988
Robert Hughes, The Fatal
Shore
1989
Christopher Hill, A
Turbulent, Seditious and Factious People: John Bunyan and His
Church
1990
V. S. Pritchett, A Careless
Widow and Other Stories
1991
Derek Walcott, Omeros
1992
Thomas Pakenham, The
Scramble for Africa
1993
Michèle Roberts,
Daughters of the House
1994
Vikram Seth, A Suitable
Boy
1995
Alice Munro, Open Secrets
1996
Simon Schama, Landscape
and Memory
1997
Orlando Figes, A People's
Tragedy--The Russian Revolution
1998
Ted Hughes, Tales From
Ovid
1999
Beryl Bainbridge, Master
Georgie
2000
Melvyn Bragg, The Soldier's
Return
*2001
Philip Roth, The Human
Stain
2002
Ian McEwan, Atonement
2003
Donna Tartt, The Little
Friend
2004
Richard Powers, The
Time of Our Singing
2005
Philip Roth, The Plot
Against America
2006
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
* Beginning in 2001, the W H Smith Awards are all chosen by the public except for one. These popular awards include titles in fiction, general knowledge, travel, biography/autobiography, business, "new talent," home and leisure, and children's writing. For winners in these categories, visit the W H Smith website. The remaining award is the W H Smith Literary Award, chosen by expert judges. It is, in effect, the continuation of the traditional W H Smith Award.
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