Nero Book Awards
British literary awards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nero Book Awards are British literary awards, inaugurated in 2023.[1] They are run by coffeehouse chain Caffè Nero in partnership with the Booksellers' Association, Brunel University London, and Right To Dream, "a football community dedicated to expanding people's understanding of excellence through football".[2][3]
| The Nero Book Awards | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | the book you would most want to press into the hands of friends and family |
| Sponsored by | Caffè Nero |
| Reward | £30,000 |
| First award | 2024 |
| Final award | Active |
| Website | nerobookawards |
The awards are made in four categories: children's fiction, fiction, debut fiction, and non-fiction. A short list of four is drawn up for each category, and category winners are chosen, receiving £5,000. There is then a further selection process before one of the category winners is awarded the £30,000 "Golden Nero" award as "Book of the year". The awards are open to books published in the UK and Ireland, and at the time of entry the author must be alive and have been resident in the UK or Ireland for three years. The criteria for the awards are described as: "Our judges will be asked to choose the books they would most want to press into the hands of friends and family for their quality and readability."[3]
Timeline
For the 2023 awards, announced in 2024 for books published predominantly in 2023, the timeline was:[4]
- 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023: Publication date for eligible books[5]
- 19 June 2023 - 21 July 2023: Submission of entries[5]
- 21 November 2023: Shortlists announced[6]
- 30 January 2024: Category winners announced[7]
- 14 March 2024: Golden Nero overall winner announced[8]
A similar pattern of eligibility and submission dates has been announced for the 2024 awards.[9]
Shortlists and winners
The overall winner for each year is shown in boldface, and category winners are indicated by highlighted rows.
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Paul Murray | The Bee Sting | Hamish Hamilton | Overall winner Fiction winner |
[8][10] |
| Eleanor Catton | Birnam Wood | Granta | Fiction shortlist | [6] | |
| Megan Nolan | Ordinary Human Failings | Jonathan Cape | |||
| Karen Powell | Fifteen Wild Decembers | Europa | |||
| Michael Magee | Close to Home | Hamish Hamilton | Debut fiction winner | [11] | |
| Stephen Buoro | The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa | Bloomsbury | Debut fiction shortlist | [6] | |
| Tom Crewe | The New Life | Chatto & Windus | |||
| Chloe Michelle Howarth | Sunburn | Verve | |||
| Beth Lincoln | The Swifts | Puffin | Children's fiction winner | [11] | |
| Lex Croucher | Gwen and Art Are Not in Love | Bloomsbury | Children's fiction shortlist | [6] | |
| Kat Dunn | Bitterthorn | Andersen Press | |||
| Candy Gourlay | Wild Song | David Fickling | |||
| Fern Brady | Strong Female Character | Brazen | Non-fiction winner | [11] | |
| Freya Bromley | The Tidal Year | Coronet | Non-fiction shortlist | [6] | |
| Natasha Carthew | Undercurrent | Coronet | |||
| Victoria Smith | Hags | Fleet | |||
| 2024 | |||||
| Sophie Elmhirst | Maurice and Maralyn | Chatto & Windus | Overall winner Non-fiction winner |
[12][13] | |
| Ellen Atlanta | Pixel Flesh | Headline | Non-fiction shortlist | [14][15] | |
| Zeinab Badawi | An African History of Africa | W. H. Allen & Co. | |||
| Orlando Whitfield | All That Glitters | Profile Books | |||
| Adam S. Leslie | Lost in the Garden | Dead Ink | Fiction winner | [12] | |
| Suzannah Dunn | Levitation for Beginners | Abacus | Fiction shortlist | [14][15] | |
| Jo Hamya | The Hypocrite | Weidenfeld & Nicolson | |||
| Donal Ryan | Heart, Be at Peace | Doubleday | |||
| Colin Barrett | Wild Houses | Jonathan Cape | Debut fiction winner | [12] | |
| Lara Haworth | Monumenta | Canongate Books | Debut fiction shortlist | [14][15] | |
| Ferdia Lennon | Glorious Exploits | Fig Tree | |||
| Orlaine McDonald | No Small Thing | Serpent's Tail | |||
| Liz Hyder (illus. Tom de Freston) | The Twelve | Pushkin Press | Children's fiction winner | [12] | |
| Catherine Bruton | Bird Boy | Nosy Crow | Children's fiction shortlist | [14][15] | |
| Scarlet Dunmore | How to Survive a Horror Movie | Little Tiger | |||
| Patrick Ness (illus. Tim Miller) | Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody | Walker Books | |||
| 2025 | |||||
| Claire Lynch | A Family Matter | Chatto & Windus | Overall winner Debut fiction winner |
[16][17] | |
| Ben Pester | The Expansion Project | Granta | Debut fiction shortlist | [18] | |
| Rochelle Dowden-Lord | Lush | Penguin | |||
| George Harrison | Season | Bloomsbury | |||
| Benjamin Wood | Seascraper | Viking | Fiction winner | [17] | |
| Oyinkan Braithwaite | Cursed Daughters | Atlantic Books | Fiction shortlist | [18] | |
| Ian McEwan | What We Can Know | Jonathan Cape | |||
| Damian Barr | The Two Roberts | Canongate Books | |||
| Sarah Perry | Death of an Ordinary Man | Jonathan Cape | Non-fiction winner | [17] | |
| Lyse Doucet | The Finest Hotel in Kabul | Weidenfeld & Nicolson | Non-fiction shortlist | [18] | |
| James Fox | Craftland | Allen Lane | |||
| Horatio Clare | We Came by Sea | Little, Brown | |||
| Jamila Gavin | My Soul, A Shining Tree | Egmont Books | Children's fiction winner | [17] | |
| Patrice Lawrence | People Like Stars | Scholastic | Children's fiction shortlist | [18] | |
| Struan Murray | Dragonborn | Penguin | |||
| Jenny Pearson | Shrapnel Boys | Usborne |