| 1969 | P. H. Newby | Something to Answer For |
| 1970 | Bernice Rubens | The Elected Member |
| 1970 | J. G. Farrell | Troubles |
| 1971 | V. S. Naipaul | In a Free State |
| 1972 | John Berger | G. |
| 1973 | J. G. Farrell | The Siege of Krishnapur |
| 1974 | Nadine Gordimer | The Conservationist |
| 1975 | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | Heat and Dust |
| 1977 | Paul Scott | Staying On |
| 1978 | Iris Murdoch | The Sea, the Sea |
| 1979 | Penelope Fitzgerald | Offshore |
| 1980 | William Golding | Rites of Passage |
| 1981 | Salman Rushdie | Midnight’s Children |
| 1982 | Thomas Keneally | Schindler’s Ark |
| 1983 | J. M. Coetzee | Life & Times of Michael K |
| 1984 | Anita Brookner | Hotel du Lac |
| 1985 | Keri Hulme | The Bone People |
| 1986 | Kingsley Amis | The Old Devils |
| 1987 | Penelope Lively | Moon Tiger |
| 1988 | Peter Carey | Oscar and Lucinda |
| 1989 | Kazuo Ishiguro | The Remains of the Day |
| 1990 | A. S. Byatt | Possession: A Romance |
| 1991 | Ben Okri | The Famished Road |
| 1992 | Michael Ondaatje | The English Patient |
| 1993 | Roddy Doyle | Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha |
| 1994 | James Kelman | How Late It Was, How Late |
| 1995 | Pat Barker | The Ghost Road |
| 1996 | Graham Swift | Last Orders |
| 1997 | Arundhati Roy | The God of Small Things |
| 1998 | Ian McEwan | Amsterdam |
| 1999 | J. M. Coetzee | Disgrace |
| 2000 | Margaret Atwood | The Blind Assassin |
| 2016 | Paul Beatty | The Sellout |
| 2018 | Anna Burns | Milkman |
| 2022 | Shehan Karunatilaka | The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida |
| 2023 | Paul Lynch | Prophet Song |
| 2024 | Samantha Harvey | Orbital |
