Pike and Armstrong join Costa judges
16.12.08 Victoria Gallagher writing in The Bookseller

Actress Rosamund Pike and comedian Alexander Armstrong have joined the final judging panel for the 2008 Costa Book Awards.

They join authors Victoria Hislop, Lisa Jewell, Pauline McLynn and Roger McGough, as well as broadcaster Michael Buerk and television presenter Andrea Catherwood. The panel will be chaired by columnist and broadcaster, Matthew Parris.

The Costa Book Awards reward the most enjoyable reads of the last year by writers based in UK and Ireland. Along with the overall Book of the Year, prizes are awarded to best novel, children's book, poetry and first novel.

The four writers will represent each one of the categories with the other judges picking the 2008 Book of the Year.The judges will meet on 27th January to pick the winning titles, which will be announced at an awards ceremony hosted by Mariella Frostrup later that evening. The overall winner of the Costa Book of the Year award will win £25,000.

For the first time this year the final judging panel also includes a member of the public selected via a competition run throughout October. The winner was David Horovitch from Hornsey, London who will join the other nine judges in their discussions.

John Derkach, managing director at Costa said: “It’s never an easy task to single out one Book of the Year which stands out above the rest, but we’re delighted to have such a fine panel of strong-minded people to undertake the task this year, all of whom are avid readers and passionate about books.”