The £30,000 (about $40,225) Women's Prize for Fiction was won by Virginia Evans for The Correspondent (Crown). Julia Gillard, chair of judges for the fiction award, described the book as "a remarkable novel, with an exemplary combination of originality, excellence and accessibility. It is no mean feat to write a life in letters, but Evans makes this feel effortless, asking the reader to consider the choices we make, whilst elevating an ordinary life in the most heartfelt of ways. The sheer skill required to render an emotionally resonant and engaging work in this format is spectacular. This is a novel that captured our hearts, and should be read and savored by all."
The £30,000 Women's Prize for Nonfiction was awarded to Lyse Doucet for The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan. Thangam Debbonaire, chair of judges for the nonfiction prize, called this "a perfect work of narrative nonfiction: it is not only cleverly constructed and brilliantly researched, but each and every element is handled with extraordinary sensitivity and warmth--it will move you to tears or make you laugh, or perhaps both. Informed by decades of excellent reporting, Doucet centers the real-life experiences of people--the staff and guests, alongside the hotel itself--and with the future of Afghanistan still being written, this book's importance will only get stronger as the years go by."