Alan Bennett: Nominated for his short story The Clothes They Stood Up In

The chairman of the panel of judges Professor John Carey described the winning book as a masterpiece.

"Beryl Bainbridge's novel about the Crimean War is as unlike the conventional war books as it is possible to be.

"Haunting, poetic, both funny and nightmarish, it catches the madness of war, and the strangeness of other people's lives," he said.

Bainbridge has won several literary awards in the past including the Whitbread for Every Man For Himself and Injury Time and the Guardian Fiction Prize for The Dressmaker.

Last year she was a popular choice to take the Booker - for which she had been shortlisted five times - but lost out to Ian McEwan's Amsterdam.

Arts Minister Alan Howarth presented her with the prize at a lunch in Westminster, London.

'Deserving winner'

Julian Barnes: Shortlisted for England, England

Jeremy Hardie, chairman of WH Smith, said: "Beryl Bainbridge has won this award in the face of fierce competition. The shortlist was one of the strongest I can remember but Master Georgie is an exceptional book and a deserving winner."

The other books on the shortlist were: Alan Bennett's The Clothes They Stood Up In; England, England by Julian Barnes; Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor; Armadillo by William Boyd; and The Unknown Matisse by Hilary Spurling.

Now in its 41st year, the WH Smith award is open to any non-fiction or fiction title written in English and published in the UK.