The Galaxy British Book Awards honour the best books and authors of the year. Nothing particularly exciting in the winners list: all excellent books in their field, but each of them already highly vaunted and well known. So, a decent list, but one with no surprises...

These are the 2009 winners

• Galaxy Book of the Year: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
• Outstanding Achievement: Michael Palin
• Richard & Judy Best Read: When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson
• Borders Author of the Year: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
• Tesco Biography of the Year: Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
• Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Sainsbury's Popular Fiction Award: Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
• Play.com Popular Non-Fiction Award: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
• Waterstone's New Writer of the Year: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
• WHSmith Children's Book of the Year: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer Atom