The most personal and second oldest of UK book awards, the £5,000 John Llewellyn Rhys prize, yesterday chose Boy A, a first novel about a teenager called Jack, by Jonathan Trigell as its 2005 winner.

The award, which was started in 1942 in memory of a young writer killed in the second world war, has a better record at spotting talent than several bigger awards. Among previous winners are VS Naipaul, David Storey, Nell Dunn, Margaret Drabble, Angela Carter, Melvyn Bragg, Susan Hill, William Boyd, Andrew Motion, Jeanette Winterson, Jonathan Coe, David Mitchell and Hari Kunzru.