Break out the bubbly! In this very special year that marks the award’s 25th anniversary, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction has not one but two winners. Rosanna Pike wins the 2025 Bollinger Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction for A Little Trickerie and Marina Lewycka is awarded the Vintage Bollinger Prize – the ‘Winner of Winners', from the twenty-five previous recipients of the award – for A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (also published by Fig Tree, Penguin Random House back in 2005).

The announcement was made this evening at a glittering ceremony held at One Great George Street, Westminster, in Central London. Rosanna Pike received a jeroboam and a case of Bollinger Special Cuvée, the complete set of the Everyman’s Library P.G. Wodehouse collection and a pig named after her winning book. Marina Lewycka’s family – partner Professor Donald Sassoon and daughter Sonia Lewycka – accepted the award on behalf of the author who sadly died after a long illness the day after the judges reached their decision. They received a framed picture of the winning book jacket and a specially engraved jeroboam of Bollinger Special Cuvée.

Peter Florence, Chair of the Judges, commented: “2025 gifted us several fabulous contenders for this year’s prize, that ran a full spectrum of comic styles and just seemed endlessly entertaining. It was the closest multi-way call we’ve ever had, and we’re delighted by our winner, and by the whole shortlist. Judging the Vintage Bollinger Prize was always going to be a locked-in hoot as we revisited so many fabulously funny winners. It seemed a daunting idea to garland one book among so many as the funniest book of the last 25 years, but actually we came to a book that some people were discovering for the first time and were laughing aloud at and loving. She has us at the title, and she rocks us on every page. And it’s a book that is reshaped by the 20 years since it was first published, by both the history of Ukraine and the story of refugee experience in the UK. The comedy is somehow both darker and more vivid. Marina died on the day after the jury met to decide the prize winner. I am so glad to know that she knew she had won.”

Victoria Carfantan, Director of Champagne Bollinger UK & Global Partnerships, added: “Champagne Bollinger is proud to have been the sponsor of this important award for a quarter of a century. I am thrilled that, in the year we celebrate 25 years of this prestigious prize, we have two female winners. The novels couldn’t be more different, one a Chaucerian romp through Medieval England, the other a unique and at times deeply moving modern take on family relationships, but each will have the reader smiling and laughing out loud.”

More about A Little Trickerie 

Inspired by a true story, A Little Trickerie is a blazingly original and irreverent tale of belief and superstition, kinship and courage, set in 16th century England, with an unforgettable and distinctly unangelic heroine.

Born a vagabond, Tibb Ingleby has never had a roof of her own. But her mother has taught her that if you're not too bound by the Big Man's rules, there are many ways a woman can find shelter in this world. Now her ma is dead in a trick gone wrong and young Tibb is orphaned and alone. As she wends her way across the fields and forests of medieval England, Tibb will discover there are people who will care for her, as well as those who mean her harm. And there are a great many others who are prepared to believe just about anything.

And so, when the opportunity presents itself to escape the shackles society has placed on them, Tibb and her new friends conjure an audacious plan: her greatest trickerie yet. But before they know it, their hoax takes on a life of its own, drawing crowds - and vengeful enemies - to their door...

Judge Pippa Evans said: “Rosanna Pike is so very playful with her use of language in this joyful and unctuous book. I fell in love with Tibb from the very first page and giggled right to the end.” 

Judge James Naughtie said: “Silky and effervescent, it bubbles with wit and style”

On winning this year’s prize, Rosanna said: “I was over the moon to get the news and completely I am so honoured that the judges thought my writing amusing enough to make the shortlist, let alone win. And the best part - there is now a pig snuffling around named A Little Trickerie. What more could a debut novelist ask for?”

The other 2025 shortlisted titles were:

Friends of Dorothy by Sandi Toksvig 

Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis 

Last Acts by Alexander Sammartino

Murder Most Foul by Guy Jenkin

The Book of George by Kate Greathead

The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji

The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade 

More about A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian 

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is a hilarious, lively, moving and compassionate debut novel about one Ukrainian-British family's tumultuous relationship and the history they never knew.

Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must set aside a lifetime of feuding to save their widowed, tractor-obsessed Ukrainian father from the voluptuous, wealth-obsessed Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she outmanoeuvres the sisters at every turn. But their campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers fifty years of European and Ukrainian history, and sends them back to roots they'd much rather forget . . .

Judge Claudia Winkleman said: “I thought Marina’s book was laugh out loud funny, utterly original and also deeply moving. I’m delighted it’s won the Vintage Bollinger Prize.”

Judge Sindhu Vee said: “Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is unforgettable because it makes you laugh out loud even as it lays out - so vividly - the frustration and despair that mark all lives from time to time. A true comedy gem.”

Marina Lewycka was born in Kiel, Germany, after the war, grew up in England and lived in Sheffield. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, longlisted for the Man Booker, and won the Bollinger Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction and the Waverton Good Read Award. She died on 11th November 2025.

More details about the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, including a list of all previous winners, can be found on the website here.

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