Costa Book Award for a rejected novel.

Costa Book Award previously known as Whitbread Prize has been awarded for a novel that was rejected by more than a dozen literary agents and publishers has won one of Britain’s most coveted literary prizes.
“What was lost”, Catherine O’Flynn’s mystery novel, built around the goings on in a shopping centre has been adjudged the best First novel award and is now in the race for the £25,000 Book of the year prize.
Judges described it as an “extraordinary tale, blending humor and pathos in a cleverly constructed and absorbing mystery”.
Ms. O’Flynn, 37, joining a distinguished band of writers who had their first works rejected, urged other aspiring writers not to give up in the face of rejections. She said her case would give hope. It’s hard to get published, and it’s hard if you go in there with this burning ambition. I didn’t have that, I was protected by my natural pessimism.
After being rejected by a host of publishers, Ms O’Flynn’s novel was eventually accepted by Tindal Street Press, an independent press publishing house devoted to discovering new talents.