| 1947 | A. L. Barker | Innocents |
| 1948 | P. H. Newby | Journey to the Interior |
| 1949 | Hamish Henderson | Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica |
| 1950 | Nigel Kneale | Tomato Cain & Other Stories |
| 1951 | Roland Camberton | Scamp |
| 1952 | Francis King | The Dividing Stream |
| 1953 | Emyr Humphreys | Hear and Forgive |
| 1954 | Doris Lessing | Five Short Novels |
| 1955 | Kingsley Amis | Lucky Jim |
| 1956 | Elizabeth Jennings | A Way of Looking |
| 1957 | George Lamming | In the Castle of My Skin |
| 1959 | Thom Gunn | A Sense of Movement |
| 1960 | Ted Hughes | The Hawk in the Rain |
| 1961 | V. S. Naipaul | Miguel Street |
| 1962 | Hugh Thomas | The Spanish Civil War |
| 1963 | David Storey | Flight Into Camden |
| 1964 | Dan Jacobson John Le Carre |
Time of Arrival The Spy Who Came In From the Cold |
| 1965 | Peter Everett | Negatives |
| 1966 | Michael Frayn Julian Mitchell |
The Tin Men The White Father |
| 1967 | B. S. Johnson Andrew Sinclair |
Trawl The Better Half |
| 1968 | Paul Bailey Seamus Heaney |
At the Jerusalem Death of a Naturalist |
| 1969 | Angela Carter | Several Perceptions |
| 1970 | Jane Gaskell Piers Paul Read |
A Sweet Sweet Summer Monk Dawson |
| 1971 | Susan Hill Richard Barber Michael Hastings |
I'm the King of the Castle The Knight and Chivalry Tussy Is Me |
| 1972 | Douglas Dunn Gillian Tindall |
Terry Street Fly Away Home |
| 1973 | Peter Prince Paul Strathern Jonathan Street |
Play Things A Season in Abyssinia Prudence Dictates |
| 1974 | Martin Amis | The Rachel Papers |
| 1975 |
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| 1976 | Dominic Cooper Ian McEwan |
The Dead of Winter First Love, Last Rites |
| 1977 | Richard Holmes | Shelley: The Pursuit |
| 1978 | Tom Paulin Nigel Williams |
A State of Justice My Life Closed Twice |
| 1979 | Helen Hodgman Sara Maitland |
Jack & Jill Daughter of Jerusalem |
| 1980 | Max Hastings Christopher Reid Humphrey Carpenter |
Bomber Command Arcadia The Inklings |
| 1981 | Julian
Barnes Clive Sinclair A. N. Wilson |
Metroland Hearts of Gold The Healing Art |
| 1982 | William Boyd Adam Mars-Jones |
A Good Man in Africa Lantern Lecture |
| 1983 | Lisa St Aubin de Teran | Keepers of the House |
| 1984 | Peter Ackroyd Timothy Garton Ash Sean O'Brien |
The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde The Polish Revolution: Solidarity The Indoor Park |
| 1985 | Blake Morrison Jeremy Reed Jane Rogers |
Dark Glasses By the Fisheries Her Living Image |
| 1986 | Patricia Ferguson Adam Nicolson Tim Parks |
Family Myths and Legends Frontiers Tongues of Flame |
| 1987 | Stephen Gregory Janni Howker Andrew Motion |
The Cormorant Isaac Campion The Lamberts |
| 1988 | Jimmy Burns Carol Ann Duffy Matthew Kneale |
The Land That Lost Its Heroes Selling Manhattan Whore Banquets |
| 1989 | Rupert Christiansen Alan Hollingshurst Deirdre Madden |
Romantic Affinities The Swimming Pool Library The Birds of the Innocent Wood |
| 1990 | Mark Hudson Sam North Nicholas Shakespeare |
Our Grandmother's Drums The Automatic Man The Vision of Elena Silves |
| 1991 | Peter Benson Lesley Glaister Helen Simpson |
The Other Occupant Honour Thy Father Four Bare Legs in a Bed |
| 1992 | Geoff Dyer Lawrence Norfolk Gerard Woodward |
But Beautiful Lempriere's Dictionary Householder |
| 1993 | Dea Birket Duncan McLean Glyn Maxwell |
Jella Bucket of Tongues Out of the Rain |
| 1994 | Jackie Kay A. L. Kennedy Philip Marsden |
Other Lovers Looking for the Possible Dance Crossing Place |
| 1995 | Patrick French Simon Garfield Kathleen Jamie Laura Thompson |
Younghusband The End of Innocence The Queen of Sheba The Dogs |
| 1996 | Katherine Pierpoint Alan Warner |
Truffle Beds Morvern Callar |
| 1997 | Rhidian Brook Kate Clanchy Philip Hensher Francis Spufford |
The Testimony of Taliesin
Jones Slattern Kitchen Venom I May Be Some Time |
| 1998 | Rachel Cusk Jonathan Rendall Kate Summerscale Robert Twigger |
The Country Life This Bloody Mary Is the Last Thing I Own The Queen of Whale Cay Angry White Pyjamas |
| 1999 | Andrea Ashworth Paul Farley Giles Foden Jonathan Freedland |
Once in a House on Fire The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You The Last King of Scotland Bring Home the Revolution |
| 2000 | Bella Bathurst Sarah Waters |
The Lighthouse Sevensons Affinity |
| 2001 | Edward Platt Ben Rice |
Leadville Pobby and Dingan |
| 2002 | Charlotte Hobson Marcel Theroux |
Black Earth City The Paperchase |
| 2003 | Hari Kunzru William Fiennes Jon McGregor |
The Impressionist The Snow Geese If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things |
| 2005 | Justin Hill | Passing Under Heaven |
| Maggie O'Farrell | The Distance Between Us | |
| 2006 | Chris Cleave | Incendiary |
| Zadie Smith | On Beauty | |
| Owen Sheers | Skirrid Hill | |
| 2007 | Horatio Clare | Running For The Hills |
| James Scudamore | The Amnesia Clinic | |
| 2008 | Steven Hall | The Raw Shark Texts |
| Nick Laird | On Purpose | |
| Gwendoline Riley | Joshua Spassky | |
| Adam Thirlwell | Miss Herbert | |
| 2009 | Adam Foulds | The Broken Word |
| Alice Albinia | Empires of the Indus | |
| Rodge Glass | Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography | |
| Henry Hitchings | The Secret Life of Words | |
| Thomas Leveritt | The Exchange Rate Between Love and Money | |
| Helen Walsh | Once Upon a Time in England | |
| 2010 | Jacob Polley | Talk of the Town | Helen Oyeyemi | White is for Witching | Ben Wilson | What Price Liberty? |