Commonwealth Foundation prizes
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
Commonwealth Writers ' 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 .
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. 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.