The Whitbread prize is a prestigious British literary award.  Its
categories include fiction, biography, poetry and children's writing.

David Cairns' "Berlioz:  Servitude and Greatness" deservedly won the
biography award on 6 January.  Cairns pockets UKP2,000 and his book will
now be considered for Whitbread Book of the Year, worth UKP21,000 and
announced on 25 January.

What the Whitbread judges said:

   "The judges had a long and agonized debate between Hilary Spurling's
   Matisse and David Cairn's Berlioz. Both captured the eras in which
   their subjects lived and worked as well as elegantly relating the
   technicalities of their respective crafts. David Cairns' Berlioz wins
   this year's Whitbread Biography Award for his masterly evocation of
   the inner man as well the outer world in which he lived and worked.
   The judges felt that this biography is a work of art in itself which
   will still be enjoyed and admired in centuries to come."

What the critics said:

   "Reading this new book has been an exhilarating, exciting and moving
   experience." The Sunday Times

Judges: Sarah Anderson, The Travel Bookshop; Anthony Holden, biographer;
Jackie Wullschlager, critic

Shortlist, selected from a total of 90 entries:
Nicholas Shakespeare Bruce Chatwin Harvill Press
Hilary Spurling The Unknown Matisse Hamish Hamilton

   http://www.whitbread-bookawards.co.uk/

James Kearney
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