# Commonwealth Foundation prizes

Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First Book prize was awarded from 1989 to 2011. In addition the Commonwealth Short Story Competition was awarded from 1996 to 2011.
Beginning in 2012, Commonwealth Foundation discontinued its previous awards and created a new cultural initiative called Commonwealth Writers, which offered two new awards: the Commonwealth Book Prize for the best first book, in which regional winners received £2,500 and the overall winner received £10,000; and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the best short stories, in which regional winners received £1,000 and the overall winner received £5,000. After two years, the Book Prize was discontinued. The Short Story Prize remains the sole award from Commonwealth Writers.

## Commonwealth Short Story Prize

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize, set up in 2012, is awarded annually for a piece of unpublished short fiction. It is open to Commonwealth citizens aged 18 and over who have had little or no work published and is particularly aimed at those places with little or no publishing industry.

## Commonwealth Book Prize (2012–13)

Awarded for best first book, the Commonwealth Book Prize was established in 2012 for writers who were Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or over and who have had their first novel (full-length work of fiction) published in the year of entry. The Commonwealth Book Prize was part of an initiative by the Commonwealth Foundation called Commonwealth Writers, which seeks to unearth, develop and promote the best new fiction from across the Commonwealth.
Regional winners received £2,500 and the overall winner received £10,000.
The prize was active for two years, 2012 and 2013, and then discontinued.
| Year | Region | Author | Title | Country | Publisher |
| 2012 | Africa | Jacques Strauss | The Dubious Salvation of Jack V | South Africa | Jonathan Cape |
| 2012 | Asia | Shehan Karunatilaka | Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew | Sri Lanka | Random House |
| 2012 | Canada and Europe | Riel Nason | The Town That Drowned | Canada | Goose Lane Editions |
| 2012 | Caribbean | Alecia McKenzie | Sweetheart | Jamaica | Peepal Tree Press |
| 2012 | Pacific | Cory Taylor | Me and Mr Booker | Australia | The Text Publishing Company |
| 2013 | Africa | E. E. Sule | Sterile Sky | Nigeria | Pearson Education |
| 2013 | Asia | Nayomi Munaweera | Island of a Thousand Mirrors | Sri Lanka | Perera-Hussein Publishing House |
| 2013 | Canada and Europe | Lisa O'Donnell | The Death of Bees | United Kingdom | William Heinemann |
| 2013 | Caribbean | Ezekel Alan | Disposable People | Jamaica | self-published |
| 2013 | Pacific | Michael Sala | The Last Thread | Australia | Affirm Press |

## Commonwealth Short Story Competition (1996–2011)

The Commonwealth Short Story Competition was an annual literary award. It was established in 1996 and administered by the Commonwealth Foundation in partnership with the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association.
Each year winning stories from different regions of the Commonwealth were recorded and broadcast on radio stations across the Commonwealth. The winner received a prize of £2,000 and there were regional prizes of £500 and highly commended prizes of £100.
In 2011, the competition was discontinued.
| Year | Author | Country | Title |
| 1996 | | | |
| 1997 | Dana Gilkes | Barbados | "Crab Catcher" |
| 1998 | Sujam Sankranti | India | |
| 1999 | Cherie Jones | Barbados | "Bride" |
| 2000 | Dennis Nichols | Guyana | "The Release" |
| 2001 | Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming | Bahamas | "Saving Rupa" |
| 2002 | Michael Reckord | Jamaica | "The Cleaning Class" |
| 2003 | Madhulika Liddle | India | "A Morning Swim" |
| 2004 | Juliane Okot Bitek | Uganda | "Going Home" |
| 2005 | Preeta Krishna | India | "Treason" |
| 2006 | Erin Soros | Canada | "The Moon, the Cat and the Donkey" |
| 2007 | Ellen Banda-Aaku | Zambia | "Sozi's Box" |
| 2008 | Julie Curwin | Canada | "World Backwards" |
| 2009 | Jennifer Moore | United Kingdom | "Table Talk" |
| 2010 | Shachi Kaul | India | "Retirement" |
| 2011 | Philip Nash | United Kingdom | "Rejoinder" |

## Commonwealth Writers' Prize

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize was established in 1987, as a successor to the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Each year, prizes for Best Book (1987–2011) and Best First Book (1989–2011) were awarded in four regions: Africa, Caribbean and Canada, South Asia and Europe and South East Asia and Pacific. Eight regional winners then competed for the pan-Commonwealth Best Book and Best First Book prizes, awarded at a public programme held in a different Commonwealth country each year.
The award was discontinued in 2011, when the Commonwealth Foundation launched a new cultural programme, Commonwealth Writers, which offered the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

### Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book (1987–2011)

In the following lists for the Best Book Prize and Best First Book, the overall winners are in bold and in blue background; those not in bold are the winners of the listed regions.
| Year | Region | Author | Title | Country | Publisher |
| 2011 | Africa | Aminatta Forna | The Memory of Love | Sierra Leone | |
| 2011 | Canada and the Caribbean | Emma Donoghue | Room | Canada | |
| 2011 | Europe and South Asia | David Mitchell | The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet | UK | |
| 2011 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Kim Scott | That Deadman Dance | Australia | |
| 2010 | Africa | Marié Heese | The Double Crown | South Africa | |
| 2010 | Canada and the Caribbean | Michael Crummey | Galore | Canada | |
| 2010 | Europe and South Asia | Rana Dasgupta | Solo | India/UK | |
| 2010 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Albert Wendt | The Adventures of Vela | Samoa | |
| 2009 | Africa | Mandla Langa | The Lost Colours of the Chameleon | South Africa | Picador Africa |
| 2009 | Canada and the Caribbean | Marina Endicott | Good to a Fault | Canada | Freehand Books |
| 2009 | Europe and South Asia | Jhumpa Lahiri | Unaccustomed Earth | India/UK | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| 2009 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Christos Tsiolkas | The Slap | Australia | Allen & Unwin |
| 2008 | Africa | Karen King-Aribisala | The Hangman's Game | Nigeria | Peepal Tree Press |
| 2008 | Canada and the Caribbean | Lawrence Hill | The Book of Negroes | Canada | HarperCollins |
| 2008 | Europe and South Asia | Indra Sinha | Animal's People | India | Simon & Schuster |
| 2008 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Steven Carroll | The Time We Have Taken | Australia | HarperCollins |
| 2007 | Africa | Shaun Johnson | The Native Commissioner | South Africa | Penguin Books |
| 2007 | Canada and the Caribbean | David Adams Richards | The Friends of Meager Fortune | Canada | Doubleday |
| 2007 | Europe and South Asia | Naeem Murr | The Perfect Man | UK | Heinemann |
| 2007 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Lloyd Jones | Mister Pip | New Zealand | Penguin Books |
| 2006 | Africa | Benjamin Kwakye | The Sun by Night | Ghana | Africa World Press |
| 2006 | Canada and the Caribbean | Lisa Moore | Alligator | Canada | House of Anansi Press |
| 2006 | Europe and South Asia | Zadie Smith | On Beauty | UK | Hamish Hamilton |
| 2006 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Kate Grenville | The Secret River | Australia | Text Publishing |
| 2005 | Africa | Lindsey Collen | Boy | South Africa | Bloomsbury |
| 2005 | Canada and the Caribbean | Alice Munro | Runaway | Canada | McClelland and Stewart |
| 2005 | Europe and South Asia | Andrea Levy | Small Island | UK | Review |
| 2005 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Andrew McGahan | The White Earth | Australia | Allen & Unwin |
| 2004 | Africa | Damon Galgut | The Good Doctor | South Africa | Viking Books |
| 2004 | Canada and the Caribbean | Frances Itani | Deafening | Canada | Flamingo |
| 2004 | Europe and South Asia | Caryl Phillips | A Distant Shore | UK | Secker & Warburg |
| 2004 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Michelle de Kretser | The Hamilton Case | Australia | Knopf |
| 2003 | Africa | Andre Brink | The Other Side of Silence | South Africa | Secker & Warburg |
| 2003 | Canada and the Caribbean | Austin Clarke | The Polished Hoe | Canada | Thomas Allan |
| 2003 | Europe and South Asia | Michael Frayn | Spies | UK | Faber and Faber |
| 2003 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Sonya Hartnett | Of a Boy | Australia | Viking Books |
| 2002 | Africa | Nadine Gordimer | The Pickup | South Africa | Bloomsbury |
| 2002 | Canada and the Caribbean | Alice Munro | Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage | Canada | McClelland and Stewart |
| 2002 | Europe and South Asia | Ian McEwan | Atonement | UK | Jonathan Cape |
| 2002 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Richard Flanagan | Gould's Book of Fish | Australia | Picador |
| 2001 | Africa | Zakes Mda | The Heart of Redness | South Africa | Oxford University Press |
| 2001 | Canada and the Caribbean | Anita Rau Badami | The Hero's Walk | Canada | Knopf |
| 2001 | Europe and South Asia | J. G. Ballard | Super-Cannes | UK | Flamingo |
| 2001 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Peter Carey | True History of the Kelly Gang | Australia | University of Queensland Press |
| 2000 | Africa | J. M. Coetzee | Disgrace | South Africa | Secker & Warburg |
| 2000 | Canada and the Caribbean | Shauna Singh Baldwin | What the Body Remembers | Canada | Doubleday |
| 2000 | Europe and South Asia | Salman Rushdie | The Ground Beneath Her Feet | UK | Jonathan Cape |
| 2000 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Lily Brett | Too Many Men | Australia | Picador |
| 1999 | Africa | Marion Molteno | If You Can Walk, You Can Dance | South Africa | Shola Books |
| 1999 | Canada and the Caribbean | Lawrence Scott | Aelred's Sin | Trinidad | Allison & Busby |
| 1999 | Europe and South Asia | Beryl Bainbridge | Master Georgie | UK | Duckworth |
| 1999 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Murray Bail | Eucalyptus | Australia | Harvill Press |
| 1998 | Africa | Charles Mungoshi | Walking Still | Zimbabwe | Baobab Books |
| 1998 | Canada and the Caribbean | Mordecai Richler | Barney's Version | Canada | Knopf |
| 1998 | Europe and South Asia | Vikram Chandra | Love and Longing in Bombay | India | Faber and Faber |
| 1998 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Peter Carey | Jack Maggs | Australia | University of Queensland Press |
| 1997 | Africa | Yvonne Vera | Under the Tongue | Zimbabwe | Baobab Books |
| 1997 | Canada and the Caribbean | Earl Lovelace | Salt | Trinidad | Faber and Faber |
| 1997 | Europe and South Asia | Beryl Bainbridge | Every Man for Himself | UK | Duckworth |
| 1997 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Sue Woolfe | Leaning Towards Infinity | Australia | Random House |
| 1996 | Africa | No selection made | | | |
| 1996 | Canada and the Caribbean | Rohinton Mistry | A Fine Balance | Canada | McClelland & Stewart |
| 1996 | Europe and South Asia | David Lodge | Therapy | UK | Secker & Warburg |
| 1996 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Gillian Mears | The Grass Sister | Australia | Random House |
| 1995 | Africa | J. M. Coetzee | The Master of Petersburg | South Africa | Secker & Warburg |
| 1995 | Canada and the Caribbean | V. S. Naipaul | A Way in the World | Trinidad | Heinemann |
| 1995 | Europe and South Asia | Louis de Bernières | Captain Corelli's Mandolin | UK | Secker & Warburg |
| 1995 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Tim Winton | The Riders | Australia | Pan Macmillan |
| 1994 | Africa | Lindsey Collen | The Rape of Sita | Mauritius | Ledikasyon pu Travayer |
| 1994 | Canada and the Caribbean | Margaret Atwood | The Robber Bride | Canada | McClelland & Stewart |
| 1994 | Europe and South Asia | Vikram Seth | A Suitable Boy | India | Penguin Books |
| 1994 | South East Asia and South Pacific | David Malouf | Remembering Babylon | Australia | Random House |
| 1993 | Africa | Isidore Okpewho | Tides | Nigeria | Longman |
| 1993 | Canada and the Caribbean | Michael Ondaatje | The English Patient | Canada | McClelland & Stewart |
| 1993 | Europe and South Asia | Lee Langley | Persistent Rumours | UK | William Heinemann |
| 1993 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Alex Miller | The Ancestor Game | Australia | Penguin Books |
| 1992 | Africa | Ama Ata Aidoo | Changes | Ghana | The Women's Press |
| 1992 | Canada and the Caribbean | Rohinton Mistry | Such a Long Journey | Canada | McClelland & Stewart |
| 1992 | Europe and South Asia | Louis de Bernières | Señor Vivo & the Coca Lord | UK | Secker & Warburg |
| 1992 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Albert Wendt | Ola | Samoa/New Zealand | Penguin Books |
| 1991 | Africa | Syl Cheney-Coker | The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar | Sierra Leone | Heinemann |
| 1991 | Canada and the Caribbean | Alice Munro | Friend of My Youth | Canada | McClelland & Stewart |
| 1991 | Europe and South Asia | A. S. Byatt | Possession: A Romance | UK | Chatto & Windus |
| 1991 | South East Asia and South Pacific | David Malouf | The Great World | Australia | Chatto & Windus |
| 1990 | Africa | Shimmer Chinodya | Harvest of Thorns | Zimbabwe | Baobab Books |
| 1990 | Canada and the Caribbean | Mordecai Richler | Solomon Gursky Was Here | Canada | Viking Books |
| 1990 | Europe and South Asia | Shashi Tharoor | The Great Indian Novel | India | Penguin Books |
| 1990 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Robert Drewe | The Bay of Contented Men | Australia | Picador |
| 1989 | Africa | Tsitsi Dangarembga | Nervous Conditions | Zimbabwe | The Women's Press |
| 1989 | Canada and the Caribbean | Erna Brodber | Myal | Jamaica | New Beacon Books |
| 1989 | Europe and South Asia | Marina Warner | The Lost Father | UK | Chatto & Windus |
| 1989 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Janet Frame | The Carpathians | New Zealand | Century Hutchinson |
| 1988 | Africa | Festus Iyayi | Heroes | Nigeria | Longman |
| 1988 | Canada and the Caribbean | Jack Hodgins | The Honorary Patron | Canada | McClelland & Stewart |
| 1988 | Europe and South Asia | Bruce Chatwin | The Songlines | UK | Jonathan Cape |
| 1988 | South East Asia and South Pacific | George Turner | The Sea and Summer | Australia | Faber and Faber |
| 1987 | Africa | Ben Okri | Incidents at the Shrine | Nigeria | William Heinemann |
| 1987 | Africa | Ken Saro-Wiwa | A Forest of Flowers | Nigeria | Saros International |
| 1987 | Canada and the Caribbean | Margaret Atwood | The Handmaid's Tale | Canada | Jonathan Cape |
| 1987 | Canada and the Caribbean | Olive Senior | Summer Lightning | Canada | Longman |
| 1987 | Europe and South Asia | Nayantara Sahgal | Plans for Departure | India | William Heinemann |
| 1987 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Blanche d'Alpuget | Winter in Jerusalem | Australia | Heinemann |
| 1987 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Witi Ihimaera | The Matriarch | New Zealand | Heinemann |

### Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book (1989–2011)

| Year | Region | Author | Title | Country | Publisher |
| 2011 | Africa | Cynthia Jele | Happiness Is a Four-letter Word | South Africa | |
| 2011 | Canada and the Caribbean | Katrina Best | Bird Eat Bird | Canada | |
| 2011 | Europe and South Asia | Mischa Hiller | Sabra Zoo | UK | |
| 2011 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Craig Cliff | A Man Melting | New Zealand | |
| 2010 | Africa | Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani | I Do Not Come to You By Chance | Nigeria | |
| 2010 | Canada and the Caribbean | Shandi Mitchell | Under This Unbroken Sky | Canada | |
| 2010 | Europe and South Asia | Daniyal Mueenuddin | In Other Rooms, Other Wonders | Pakistan | |
| 2010 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Glenda Guest | Siddon Rock | Australia | |
| 2009 | Africa | Uwem Akpan | Say You‘re One of Them | Nigeria | Abacus |
| 2009 | Canada and the Caribbean | Joan Thomas | Reading by Lightning | Canada | Goose Lane Editions |
| 2009 | Europe and South Asia | Mohammed Hanif | A Case of Exploding Mangoes | Pakistan | Jonathan Cape |
| 2009 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Mo Zhi Hong | The Year of the Shanghai Shark | New Zealand | Penguin Books New Zealand |
| 2008 | Africa | Sade Adeniran | Imagine This | Nigeria | SW Books |
| 2008 | Canada and the Caribbean | C. S. Richardson | The End of the Alphabet | Canada | Doubleday |
| 2008 | Europe and South Asia | Tahmima Anam | A Golden Age | Bangladesh | John Murray |
| 2008 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Karen Foxlee | The Anatomy of Wings | Australia | University of Queensland Press |
| 2007 | Africa | Maxine Case | All We Have Left Unsaid | South Africa | Kwela Books |
| 2007 | Canada and the Caribbean | D. Y. Béchard | Vandal Love | Canada | Doubleday |
| 2007 | Europe and South Asia | Hisham Matar | In the Country of Men | UK | Viking Books |
| 2007 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Andrew O'Connor | Tuvalu | Australia | Allen & Unwin |
| 2006 | Africa | Doreen Baingana | Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe | Uganda | University of Massachusetts Press |
| 2006 | Canada and the Caribbean | Mark McWatt | Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement | Guyana | Peepal Tree Press |
| 2006 | Europe and South Asia | Donna Daley-Clarke | Lazy Eye | UK | Scribner |
| 2006 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Tash Aw | The Harmony Silk Factory | Malaysia | Harper Perennial |
| 2005 | Africa | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Purple Hibiscus | Nigeria | Fourth Estate |
| 2005 | Canada and the Caribbean | David Bezmozgis | Natasha and Other Stories | Canada | Flamingo |
| 2005 | Europe and South Asia | Rupa Bajwa | The Sari Shop | India | Viking Books |
| 2005 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Larissa Behrendt | Home | Australia | University of Queensland Press |
| 2004 | Africa | Diane Awerbuck | Gardening at Night | South Africa | Secker & Warburg |
| 2004 | Canada and the Caribbean | Kate Taylor | Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen | Canada | Doubleday |
| 2004 | Europe and South Asia | Mark Haddon | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | UK | Jonathan Cape |
| 2004 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Nada Awar Jarrar | Somewhere, Home | Australia | William Heinemann |
| 2003 | Africa | Helon Habila | Waiting for an Angel | Nigeria | Hamish Hamilton |
| 2003 | Canada and the Caribbean | Paulo da Costa | The Scent of a Lie | Canada | Ekstatis Editions |
| 2003 | Europe and South Asia | Sarah Hall | Haweswater | UK | Faber and Faber |
| 2003 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Rani Manicka | The Rice Mother | Malaysia | Sceptre |
| 2002 | Africa | Manu Herbstein | Ama | South Africa | e-reads |
| 2002 | Canada and the Caribbean | Michael Redhill | Martin Sloane | Canada | Anchor Books |
| 2002 | Europe and South Asia | William Muir | The 18th Pale Descendant | UK | Quartet |
| 2002 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Meaghan Delahunt | In the Blue House | Australia | Bloomsbury |
| 2001 | Africa | K. Sello Duiker | Thirteen Cents | South Africa | David Philip Publishing |
| 2001 | Canada and the Caribbean | Pearl Luke | Burning Ground | Canada | Flamingo |
| 2001 | Europe and South Asia | Zadie Smith | White Teeth | UK | Hamish Hamilton |
| 2001 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Arabella Edge | The Company: The Story of a Murderer | Australia | Picador |
| 2000 | Africa | Funso Aiyejina | The Legend of the Rockhills and Other Stories | Nigeria | TSAR Publications |
| 2000 | Canada and the Caribbean | Jeffrey Moore | Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain | Canada | Thistledown Press |
| 2000 | Europe and South Asia | Raj Kamal Jha | The Blue Bedspread | India | Picador |
| 2000 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Kapka Kassabova | Reconnaissance | New Zealand | Penguin Books |
| 1999 | Africa | Benjamin Kwakye | The Clothes of Nakedness | Ghana | Heinemann |
| 1999 | Canada and the Caribbean | Kerri Sakamoto | The Electrical Field | Canada | Knopf |
| 1999 | Europe and South Asia | Manju Kapur | Difficult Daughters | India | Penguin Books |
| 1999 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Catherine Chidgey | In a Fishbone Church | New Zealand | Victoria University Press |
| 1998 | Africa | Pamela Jooste | Dance with a Poor Man's Daughter | South Africa | Doubleday |
| 1998 | Canada and the Caribbean | Tim Wynveen | Angel Falls | Canada | Key Porter Books |
| 1998 | Europe and South Asia | A. Sivanandan | When Memory Dies | UK | Arcadia Books |
| 1998 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Emma Tom | Deadset | Australia | Random House |
| 1997 | Africa | Ronnie Govender | At the Edge and other Cato Manor Stories | South Africa | Hibbard Publishers |
| 1997 | Canada and the Caribbean | Ann-Marie MacDonald | Fall on Your Knees | Canada | Knopf |
| 1997 | Europe and South Asia | Jeremy Poolman | Interesting Facts about the State of Arizona | UK | Faber and Faber |
| 1997 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Sia Figiel | Where We Once Belonged | Samoa | Pasifika Press |
| 1996 | Africa | Dene Coetzee | Winds of Change | South Africa | Hodder and Stoughton |
| 1996 | Canada and the Caribbean | Thomas Wharton | Icefields | Canada | NeWest Publishers |
| 1996 | Europe and South Asia | Vikram Chandra | Red Earth and Pouring Rain | India | Penguin Books |
| 1996 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Charlotte Randall | Dead Sea Fruit | New Zealand | Reed Publishing |
| 1995 | Africa | Margaret A. Ogola | The River and the Source | Kenya | Focus Books |
| 1995 | Canada and the Caribbean | Hiromi Goto | Chorus of Mushrooms | Canada | Newest Publishing |
| 1995 | Europe and South Asia | Derek Beaven | Newton's Niece | UK | Faber & Faber |
| 1995 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Adib Khan | Seasonal Adjustments | Australia | Allen and Unwin |
| 1994 | Africa | Lucy Safo | Cry a Whisper | Ghana | Bogle-L'Ouverture |
| 1994 | Canada and the Caribbean | Vanessa Spence | The Roads are Down | Jamaica | Heinemann |
| 1994 | Europe and South Asia | Keith Oatley | The Case of Emily V | UK | Secker & Warburg |
| 1994 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Fotini Epanomitis | The Mule's Foal | Australia | Allen & Unwin |
| 1993 | Africa | Paul Conton | The Price of Liberty | Sierra Leone | Macmillan |
| 1993 | Canada and the Caribbean | Alecia McKenzie | Satellite City | Jamaica | Longman |
| 1993 | Europe and South Asia | Githa Hariharan | The Thousand Faces of Night | India | Penguin Books |
| 1993 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Andrew McGahan | Praise | Australia | Allen & Unwin |
| 1992 | Africa | Lawrence Darmani | Grief Child | Ghana | Lion Publishing |
| 1992 | Canada and the Caribbean | Robert Antoni | Divina Trace | Bahamas | Quartet |
| 1992 | Europe and South Asia | Amit Chaudhuri | A Strange and Sublime Address | India | Heinemann |
| 1992 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Beryl Fletcher | The Word Burners | New Zealand | Daphne Brasell |
| 1991 | Africa | Karen King-Aribisala | Our Wife and Other Stories | Nigeria | Malthouse Press |
| 1991 | Canada and the Caribbean | Pauline Melville | Shape Shifter | Guyana | The Women's Press |
| 1991 | Europe and South Asia | Louis de Bernières | The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts | UK | Secker & Warburg |
| 1991 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Thea Welsh | The Story of the Year of 1912 in the Village of Elza Darzins | Australia | Simon & Schuster |
| 1990 | Africa | M.G. Vassanji | The Gunny Sack | Kenya | Heinemann |
| 1990 | Canada and the Caribbean | Darlene Barry Quaife | Bone Bird | Canada | Turnstone Press |
| 1990 | Europe and South Asia | Paul Griffiths | Myself and Marco Polo | UK | Chatto & Windus |
| 1990 | South East Asia and South Pacific | John Cranna | Visitors | New Zealand | Heinemann |
| 1989 | Africa | No selection made | | | |
| 1989 | Canada and the Caribbean | Bonnie Burnard | Women of Influence | Canada | Coteau Books |
| 1989 | Europe and South Asia | Allan Sealy | The Trotter-Nama | India | Viking Books |
| 1989 | South East Asia and South Pacific | Gillian Mears | Ride a Cock Horse | Australia | Pascoe Publishing |