The fashion model Erin O'Connor will be a member of the final judging panel which selects the overall winner of the 2006 Costa Book of the Year, it was announced today.
O'Connor will be joined by the presenter Clive Anderson, the radio DJ Simon Mayo, and the broadcaster Kate Adie, who also represents the individual Best Novel category. Armando Iannucci, the comedy writer and director, will chair the panel.
The other four category judging panels will be represented by the authors Sophie Kinsella (First Novel), Adèle Geras (Children's Book Award), Elaine Feinstein (Poetry) and Francis Wheen (Biography). The final judges will meet on February 7 to select the winner of the Award, which will be announced at a ceremony later that evening.
The Costa Awards, formerly the Whitbread Prize, "recognise the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland." Former final judges have included Hugh Grant and Kirsty Young, while recent winners of the Book of the Year include Hilary Spurling, for Matisse the Master (2005), and Philip Pullman, for The Amber Spyglass (2001).
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