List of Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction winners

Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction
File:Orange Prize for fiction logo-2.JPG
Awarded for	Best full-length novel written in English by a woman of any nationality
Sponsor	Baileys Private benefactors (2012–) Orange (1996–2012)
Location	United Kingdom
Presented by	Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction
First awarded	1996
Official website	Website

The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (previously called Women's Prize for Fiction (2013), Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 & 2009–12) and Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–2008)) is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes, annually awarded to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English, and published in the United Kingdom in the preceding year. The prize was originally due to be launched in 1994 with the support of Mitsubishi but public controversy over the merits of the award caused the sponsorship to be withdrawn. Funding from Orange, a UK mobile network operator and Internet service provider, allowed the prize to be launched in 1996 by a committee of male and female "journalists, reviewers, agents, publishers, librarians, booksellers", including current Honorary Director Kate Mosse. In May 2012, it was announced Orange would be ending its sponsorship of the prize. In 2012, the award was formally known as the Women's Prize for Fiction, and was sponsored by "private benefactors" led by Cherie Blair and writers Joanna Trollope and Elizabeth Buchan. In 2013, the new sponsor became Baileys.

The prize was established to recognise the contribution of female writers, whom Mosse believed were often overlooked in other major literary awards, and in reaction to the all-male shortlist for the 1991 Man Booker Prize. The winner of the prize receives £30,000, along with a bronze sculpture called the Bessie created by artist Grizel Niven, the sister of actor and writer David Niven. Typically, a longlist of nominees is announced around March each year, followed by a shortlist in June; within days the winner is announced. The winner is selected by a board of "five leading women" each year. In 2005, judges named Andrea Levy's Small Island as the "Orange of Oranges", the best novel of the preceding decade.

The BBC suggests that the prize forms part of the "trinity" of UK literary prizes, along with the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Book Awards; the sales of works by the nominees of these awards are significantly boosted. Levy's 2004 winning book sold almost one million copies (in comparison to less than 600,000 for the Man Booker Prize winner of the same year), while sales of Helen Dunmore's A Spell of Winter quadrupled after being awarded the inaugural prize. Valerie Martin's 2003 award saw her novel sales increase tenfold after the award, and British libraries, who often support the prize with various promotions, reported success in introducing people to new authors: "48% said that they had tried new writers as a result of the promotion, and 42% said that they would try other books by the new authors they had read."

However, the fact that the prize singles out female writers is not without controversy. After the prize was founded, Auberon Waugh nicknamed it the "Lemon Prize" while Germaine Greer claimed there would soon be a prize for "writers with red hair". Winner of the 1990 Man Booker Prize, A. S. Byatt called it a "sexist prize", claiming "such a prize was never needed." In 1999, the chairwoman of the judges, Lola Young, suggested that the British fiction they were asked to appraise fell into two categories, either "insular and parochial" or "domestic in a piddling kind of way", unlike American authors who "take small, intimate stories and set them against this vast physical and cultural landscape which is very appealing.". Linda Grant suffered accusations of plagiarism following her award in 2000, while the following year, a panel of male critics produced their own shortlist and heavily criticised the genuine shortlist. Though full of praise for the winner of the 2007 prize, the chair of the judging panel Muriel Gray decried the fact that the shortlist had to be whittled down from "a lot of dross", while former editor of The Times Simon Jenkins called it "sexist". In 2008, writer Tim Lott called the award "a sexist con-trick" and suggested "the Orange Prize is sexist and discriminatory, and it should be shunned". No woman has won the award more than once but Margaret Atwood has been nominated three times without a win. Since the inaugural award to Helen Dunmore, British writers have won five times, while North American authors have secured the prize nine times.

Winners and shortlisted writers

Year	Winner		Work	Shortlisted nominees	Notes	Ref(s)
1996		Helen Dunmore	A Spell of Winter	Julia Blackburn, The Book of Colour Pagan Kennedy, Spinsters Amy Tan, The Hundred Secret Senses Anne Tyler, Ladder of Years Marianne Wiggins, Eveless Eden	Inaugural award known as the "Orange Prize for Fiction".
1997		Anne Michaels	Fugitive Pieces	Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace Deirdre Madden, One by One in the Darkness Jane Mendelsohn, I Was Amelia Earhart Annie Proulx, Accordion Crimes Manda Scott, Hen's Teeth	First non-British winner
1998		Carol Shields	Larry's Party	Kirsten Bakis, Lives of the Monster Dogs Pauline Melville, The Ventriloquist's Tale Ann Patchett, The Magician's Assistant Deirdre Purcell, Love Like Hate Adore Anita Shreve, The Weight of Water	Second Canadian winner
1999		Suzanne Berne	A Crime in the Neighborhood	Julia Blackburn, The Leper's Companions Marilyn Bowering, Visible Worlds Jane Hamilton, The Short History of a Prince Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible Toni Morrison, Paradise	Blackburn's second shortlisted nomination
2000		Linda Grant	When I Lived in Modern Times	Judy Budnitz, If I Told You Once Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, The Dancers Dancing Zadie Smith, White Teeth Elizabeth Strout, Amy and Isabelle Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood	Second British winner in five years
2001		Kate Grenville	The Idea of Perfection	Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin Jill Dawson, Fred & Edie Rosina Lippi, Homestead Jane Smiley, Horse Heaven Ali Smith, Hotel World	Atwood's second shortlisted nomination
2002		Ann Patchett	Bel Canto	Anna Burns, No Bones Helen Dunmore, The Siege Maggie Gee, The White Family Chloe Hooper, A Child's Book of True Crime Sarah Waters, Fingersmith	Dunmore's first nomination since winning in 1996
2003		Valerie Martin	Property	Anne Donovan, Buddha Da Shena Mackay, Heligoland Carol Shields, Unless Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man Donna Tartt, The Little Friend	Shields' first nomination since winning in 1998, Smith's second shortlisted nomination
2004		Andrea Levy	Small Island	Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire Gillian Slovo, Ice Road Rose Tremain, The Colour	First British winner since 2000, Atwood's third shortlisted nomination. Small Island was also the Whitbread Book of the Year.
2005		Lionel Shriver	We Need to Talk About Kevin	Joolz Denby, Billie Morgan Jane Gardam, Old Filth Sheri Holman, The Mammoth Cheese Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Maile Meloy, Liars and Saints	The "Orange of Oranges" was awarded to Andrea Levy for Small Island.
2006		Zadie Smith	On Beauty	Nicole Krauss, The History of Love Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black Ali Smith, The Accidental Carrie Tiffany, Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living Sarah Waters, The Night Watch	Zadie Smith's first win after two nominations, Ali Smith and Sarah Waters' second nomination
2007		Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	Half of a Yellow Sun	Rachel Cusk, Arlington Park Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss Xiaolu Guo, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers Jane Harris, The Observations Anne Tyler, Digging to America	Award renamed as "Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction". Adichie's first win after being nominated in 2004, Tyler's second shortlisted nomination.
2008		Rose Tremain	The Road Home	Nancy Huston, Fault Lines Sadie Jones, The Outcast Charlotte Mendelson, When We Were Bad Heather O'Neill, Lullabies for Little Criminals Patricia Wood, Lottery	This was Tremain's 14th novel.
2009	75px	Marilynne Robinson	Home	Ellen Feldman, Scottsboro Samantha Harvey, The Wilderness Samantha Hunt, The Invention of Everything Else Deirdre Madden, Molly Fox's Birthday Kamila Shamsie, Burnt Shadows	Award renamed as "Orange Prize for Fiction". Robinson's third novel in 28 years, Madden's second shortlisted nomination.
2010		Barbara Kingsolver	The Lacuna	Rosie Alison, The Very Thought of You Attica Locke, Black Water Rising Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs Monique Roffey, The White Woman on the Green Bicycle	Sixth novel by Kingsolver.
2011		Téa Obreht	The Tiger's Wife	Emma Donoghue, Room Aminatta Forna, The Memory of Love Emma Henderson, Grace Williams Says it Loud Nicole Krauss, Great House Kathleen Winter, Annabel	Debut novel by Obreht. At age 25 (at the time of the award) she was the youngest author to win to date.
2012		Madeline Miller	The Song of Achilles	Esi Edugyan, Half-Blood Blues Anne Enright, The Forgotten Waltz Georgina Harding, Painter of Silence Cynthia Ozick, Foreign Bodies Ann Patchett, State of Wonder	Debut novel by Miller
2013		A.M. Homes	May We Be Forgiven	Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behaviour Kate Atkinson, Life After Life Zadie Smith, NW	Award renamed as "Women's Prize for Fiction". A.M. Homes' 6th novel.
2014		Eimear McBride	A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing	Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah Hannah Kent, Burial Rites Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland Audrey Magee, The Undertaking Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch	Award renamed as "Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction". First shortlist with no British authors.
2015		Ali Smith	How to Be Both	Laline Paull, The Bees Anne Tyler, A Spool of Blue Thread Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests Kamila Shamsie, A God in Every Stone Rachel Cusk, Outline	Debut novel by Paull. The "Baileys of Baileys" was awarded to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Half a Yellow Sun.

See also

• List of British literary awards
• List of years in literature

External links

• Women's Prize for Fiction, official website
• Shortlisted works for the Orange Prize at LibraryThing