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First given in 1972, the Yorkshire Post book award has changed more than most competitions. In 1972 there were awards for best book, finest fiction work, best first work, and runner-up for best first work. Later books were named Novel of the Year. There have been awards for Music and Art books. This award is unusual in its relatively slight emphasis on fiction. Only once (1988) has the Best Book, or Book of the Year, gone to a novel; more often the most honored book is a work of history, often military history, travel or biography.
The Book of the Year now receives £1200 and a scroll; the Best First Book £1000 and a scroll. Subscribers to the Yorkshire Post series of literary luncheons help to support the prize through donations. Publishers are invited to submit nominations for the award, from which selections are made by a panel of judges headed by the Yorkshire Post Literary Editor. Eligibility is normally limited to British authors; the award to Charles Frazier appears to be an anomaly.
| 1972 | Quentin Bell Margaret Drabble Jennifer Johnston Michael Davie |
Virginia Woolf: Vols
1 and 2 The Needle's Eye The Captains and the Kings In the Future Now |
first prize finest fiction best 1st work runner-up |
| 1973 | David Cecil Evelyn Anthony Robin Lane Fox Arianna Stassinopoulous |
The Cecils
of Hatfield House The Occupying Power Alexander the Great The Female Woman |
first prize finest fiction best 1st works (tie) |
| 1974 | Philip Mason Kingsley Amis Ann Redmon John MacKinnon |
A Matter of Honour Ending Up Emily Stone In Search of the Red Ape |
first prize finest fiction best first work nonfiction award |
| 1975 | Paul Johnson David Lodge Iain & Oria Douglas-Hamilton Sîan James Jonathan Sumption |
Pope John
XXIII Changing Places Among the Elephants One Afternoon Pilgrimage-An Image of Medieval Religion |
first prize finest fiction best 1st work runner-up special history award |
| 1976 | Edward Crankshaw Nina Bawden Rhoda Edwards Sasha Moorsom |
The Shadow of the Winter
Palace Afternoon of a Good Woman Some Touch of Pity A Lavender Trip |
first prize finest fiction best 1st work best 1st novel |
| 1977 | Alistair Horne Olivia Manning Max Egremont John Campbell Michael Evans Frank Whitford |
A Savage War of Peace--Algeria,
1954-62 The Danger Tree The Cousins Lloyd George--the Goat in the Wilderness Janacek's Tragic Operas Japanese Prints & Western Painters |
first prize finest fiction best 1st work runner-up music award art award |
| 1978 | Gavin Kennedy Sîan James Edna Healey Jane Dunn |
Bligh Yesterday Lady Unknown--The Life of Angela Burdett-Coutts Moon in Eclipse--A Life of Mary Shelley |
first prize finest fiction best 1st work runner-up |
| 1979 | Norman & Jeanne MacKenzie Jennifer Johnston Mary Soames Richard Morris |
Dickens--A Life The Old Jest Clementine Churchill Cathedrals and Abbeys of England and Wales |
first prize finest fiction best 1st work runner-up |
| 1980 | Bernard Crick Anthony Burgess Richard Jenkyns Sally Emerson |
George Orwell--A Life Earthly Powers The Victorians and Ancient Greece Second Sight |
first prize finest fiction best 1st work runner-up |
| 1981 | John Julius Norwic Paul Theroux Francois Kersaudy Anthony Seldon |
Venice: The Greatness
and the Fall The Mosquito Coast Churchill and De Gaulle Churchill's Indian Summer |
first prize novel of the year best 1st work runner-up |
| 1982 | John Mortimer Elizabeth Jane Howard Sir David Fraser Dan Van Der Vat |
Clinging to the Wreckage Getting It Right Alanbrooke The Grand Scuttle |
first prize novel of the year best 1st work runner-up |
| 1983 | Max Hastings and Simon
Jenkins Francis King Kenneth Rose Richard Lamb Richard Masefield |
Battle for the Falklands Act of Darkness King George V Montgomery in Europe 1943-45: Success or Failure Chalkhill Blue |
first prize novel of the year biography award best 1st work runner-up |
| 1984 | Max Hastings Kingsley Amis Michael Parnell James Buchan |
Overlord Stanley and the Women Eric Linklater: A Critical Biography A Parish of Rich Women |
first prize novel of the year best 1st work runner-up |
| 1985 | John Terraine Alice Thomas Ellis John David Morley Patricia Angadi |
The Right of the Line Unexplained Laughter Pictures from the Water Trade The Governess |
first prize novel of the year best 1st work runner-up |
| 1986 | Robert Rhodes
James John Charmley |
Anthony
Eden Duff Cooper |
first prize best 1st work |
| 1987 | Lyn MacDonald Anne Spillard |
1914 Cartomancer |
first prize best 1st work |
| 1988 | William Trevor Shusha Guppy |
The Silence in the Garden The Blindfold Horse |
first prize best 1st work |
| 1989 | Simon Schama William Dalrymple | Citizens In Xanadu |
first prize best 1st work |
| 1990 | Richard Mullen Susan Richards | Anthony Trollope: A
Victorian in his World Epics of Everyday Life |
first prize best 1st work |
| 1991 | Correlli Barnett Harriet O'Brien | Engage the Enemy More
Closely Forgotten Land |
book of the
year best 1st work |
| 1992 | John Gross Rory Maclean |
Shylock Stalin's Nose |
book of the
year best 1st work |
| 1993 | Paul Preston Steve Jones |
Franco The Language of the Genes |
book of the
year best 1st work |
| 1994 | Juliet Barker Romesh Gunesekera |
The Brontës Reef |
book of the
year best 1st work |
| 1995 | Nicholas Timmins Stephen Blanchard |
The Five Giants Gagarin and I |
book of the
year best 1st work |
| 1996 | John Ehram Martyn Bedford |
The Younger Pitt Acts of Revision |
book of the
year best 1st work |
| 1997 | Ciaran Carson Charles Frazier |
The Star Factory Cold Mountain |
book of the
year best 1st work |
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