Together with the Whitbread Biography Award, the Whitbread Novel Award was one of the original categories of the Whitbread Book Awards, consistently included during the years 1971 to 2005.

Past Winners

• 1971 - Gerda Charles The Destiny Waltz
• 1972 - Susan Hill The Bird of Night
• 1973 - Shiva Naipaul The Chip Chip Gatherers
• 1974 - Iris Murdoch The Sacred and Profane Love Machine
• 1975 - William McIlvanney Docherty
• 1976 - William Trevor The Children of Dynmouth
• 1977 - Beryl Bainbridge Injury Time
• 1978 - Paul Theroux Picture Palace
• 1979 - Jennifer Johnston The Old Jest
• 1980 - David Lodge How Far Can You Go?
• 1981 - Maurice Leitch Silver's City
• 1982 - John Wain Young Shoulders
• 1983 - William Trevor Fools of Fortune
• 1984 - Christopher Hope Kruger's Alp
• 1985 - Peter Ackroyd Hawksmoor
• 1986 - Kazuo Ishiguro An Artist of the Floating World
• 1987 - Ian McEwan The Child in Time
• 1988 - Salman Rushdie The Satanic Verses
• 1989 - Lindsay Clarke The Chymical Wedding
• 1990 - Nicholas Mosley Hopeful Monsters
• 1991 - Jane Gardam The Queen of the Tambourine
• 1992 - Alisdair Gray Poor Things
• 1993 - Joan Brady Theory of War
• 1994 - William Trevor Felicia's Journey
• 1995 - Salman Rushdie The Moor's Last Sigh
• 1996 - Beryl Bainbridge Every Man for Himself
• 1997 - Jim Crace Quarantine
• 1998 - Justin Cartwright Leading the Cheers
• 1999 - Rose Tremain Music and Silence
• 2000 - Matthew Kneale English Passengers
• 2001 - Patrick Neate Twelve Bar Blues
• 2002 - Michael Frayn Spies
• 2003 - Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
• 2004 - Andrea Levy Small Island
• 2005 - Ali Smith The Accidental