Hilary Mantel wins Costa Book Award 29 January 2013 Last updated at 20:46 Hilary Mantel: "I'm not going to apologise!" Hilary Mantel has won the prestigious literary prize, the Costa Book of the Year, for her novel Bring Up the Bodies. The novel has already won the 2012 Booker Prize. It was competing against four other books. Judges said it was "quite simply the best book," and its previous accolades were disregarded by them. Dame Jenni Murray, chairwoman of the judging panel, said Mantel was a unanimous winner. She said the judges' discussion, which lasted around an hour, had considered that Mantel had already won the Booker but ultimately disregarded it. We couldn't allow the number of times it has already been lauded to affect our decision, it was quite simply the best book. Dame Jenni added: "I think one person said, this is while we were discussing the poetry as well, one person said, 'Hilary Mantel writes poetry' and she does. Hilary Mantel: "Astonishment is becoming my default position" Her prose is so poetic, it's so beautiful, it's so set in its time, so you know exactly where you are and who you are with but it's also incredibly modern, her analysis of the politics is so modern and everybody found there were things that just stuck in their minds that they would think about for a very long time. A comic-style graphic memoir about James Joyce's daughter by Mary and Bryan Talbot, the first novel by Francesca Segal entitled The Innocents, Maggot Moon, a children's book by dyslexic writer Sally Gardner and The Overhaul, and a collection of poems by Kathleen Jamie were all in the running. Mantel takes home £30,000, and all five shortlisted writers received £5,000 each. The judging panel included actress Jenny Agutter, broadcaster Katie Derham and writer DJ Taylor.