The Costa Book Awards are no more, the Guardian reports.
The British literary prizes, originally established in 1971 as the Whitbread Book Awards, have been ended by their sponsor, Costa, a Coca-Cola–owned chain of coffee shops based in Dunstable, England.
“After 50 years of celebrating some of the most enjoyable books written by hugely talented authors from across the UK and Ireland, Costa Coffee has taken the difficult decision to end the book awards,” the company’s CEO, Jill McDonald, said.
A statement on Costa’s website reads in part, “We are incredibly proud to have played a part in supporting some of the best-selling authors of the last 50 years as well as trailblazing diverse and fresh voices, tackling a broad range of themes and ideas, across fiction, poetry and biography.…We would like to thank all those who have been involved and supported the Costa Book Awards over the last 50 years as we close this chapter.”
The Guardian notes that the company did not provide a reason for ending the prizes.
The Costa prizes were last awarded in January. The winners included Claire Fuller for Unsettled Ground and Caleb Azumah Nelson for Open Water.
In the Evening Standard, author Damian Barr wrote that he hoped the prizes would be replaced with another set of awards, ones not dependent on a corporate sponsor.
“It’s great when the aims of sponsors align with the needs of readers and writers but we shouldn’t be reliant on the private sector to support and celebrate one of our oldest and most vital creative industries,” Barr wrote. “Publishing is an industry in need of an industrial strategy. It’s up to government to provide this.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
