2012 Costa Book Awards

The Costa Book Awards (before 2006 known as the Whitbread Awards) are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. They were launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience. This page gives details of the awards given in the year 2012.

The shortlist was announced on 20 November 2012 and the winners were announced on 2 January 2013.[1][2][3] The award ceremony took place in London on 29 January 2013, at which the winner of the overall Costa Book of the Year was announced.[4]

2012 was the first year of the short story prize.[5] 1,800 anonymous entries were submitted by published and unpublished writers.[5] Judges for the short story prize included author Victoria Hislop, the Spandau Ballet songwriter Gary Kemp, National Academy of Writing director Richard Beard, Woman & Home books editor Fanny Blake, and literary agent Simon Trewin.[5] Six finalists were chosen and the full stories were made available in both text and audio on the Costa website.[5] The names of the authors were announced only on 24 January, and the winner, Avril Joy's "Millie and Bird", was announced on 29 January.