What in the Galaxy ...?

During the customary “star-studded awards ceremony,” held tonight in London, England, the winners of the 2010 Galaxy National Book Awards were announced. While there was no separate Crime and Thrillers category of nominees this year, a number of books from that genre contended for honors under other headings. Unfortunately, not a single one of those nominees walked off with a prize.

Below are the four categories that contained crime, mystery, and thriller titles (identified in red type), along with the winning books and authors.

Sainsbury’s Popular Fiction Book of the Year: One Day, by David Nicholls (Hodder & Stoughton)

Also nominated: Dead Like You, by Peter James (Macmillan); The Ice Cream Girls, by Dorothy Koomson (Sphere); Jump! by Jilly Cooper (Bantam Press); The Red Queen, by Philippa Gregory (Simon & Schuster); and Worth Dying For, by Lee Child (Bantam Press)

National Book Tokens New Writer of the Year: Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes (Chatto & Windus)

Also nominated: Patrick Barkham, The Butterfly Isles (Granta Books); Katherine Webb, The Legacy (Orion); Rebecca Hunt, Mr. Chartwell (Fig Tree); Natasha Solomons, Mr. Rosenblum’s List (Sceptre); and Simon Lelic, Rupture (Picador)

International Author of the Year: Jonathan Franzen, Freedom
(Fourth Estate)

Also nominated: Colm Toibin, Brooklyn (Penguin); Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Quercus/MacLehose Press); Kathryn Stockett, The Help (Fig Tree); Emma Donoghue, Room (Picador); and Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap (Tuskar Rock Press)

Waterstone’s UK Author of the Year: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
(Fourth Estate)

Also nominated: Tom McCarthy, C (Jonathan Cape); Maggie O’Farrell, The Hand That First Held Mine (Headline Review); Kate Atkinson, Started Early, Took My Dog (Doubleday); David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Sceptre); Rose Tremain, Trespass (Chatto & Windus)

Given these results, perhaps Galaxy officials will consider reinstating the Crime and Thrillers category in 2011. I can imagine that many readers were disappointed to see no books from that genre win this year.

And in case you’re curious, here are the victors in other categories:

Tesco Biography of the Year: The Fry Chronicles, by Stephen Fry (Penguin Group)

Tesco Food & Drink Book of the Year: Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi (Random House)

More4 Non-Fiction Book of the Year: The Making of Modern Britain, by Andrew Marr (Pan Macmillan)

W.H. Smith Children’s Book of the Year: Zog, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Scholastic)

Outstanding Achievement Award: Terry Pratchett

Outstanding Achievement Award: Martin Amis

Members of the public are now invited to vote online for the Galaxy Book of the Year, the nominees being the winners in each of the eight aforementioned categories. Register your vote here. A final result will be announced on December 13.

READ MORE: “Galaxy Book of the Year Awards 2010 Announced,” by Mike Stotter (Shotsmag Confidential).