Living Canon

Costa Book Awards 1977: Complete list of winners

The 1977 Costa Book Awards (formerly known as the Whitbread Book Awards) showcased an eclectic range of literary talent across its categories, celebrating works that captured readers’ imaginations and critical attention alike. This was a particularly strong year for the prizes, which had already established themselves as one of Britain’s most prestigious annual book honors. What made the 1977 winners especially noteworthy was their diversity—spanning biography, fiction, and children’s literature—each representing the kind of accessible yet accomplished writing that the Costa Awards have long championed.

Beryl Bainbridge’s Injury Time claimed the Novel award with its characteristic wit and emotional depth, while Nigel Nicolson’s Mary Curzon demonstrated the enduring appeal of well-researched biographical storytelling. The Children’s Book category, which recognizes the importance of literature for younger readers, went to Shelagh Macdonald’s No End to Yesterday. Together, these three works reflected the breadth of quality publishing in the late 1970s and showed that readers and judges alike were drawn to stories with substance, whether set in contemporary life or exploring lives past.

Below you’ll find the complete details of these distinguished 1977 winners and what made their victories significant for the Costa Book Awards’ growing reputation.

Biography

Children’s Book

Novel