Broadcaster Fry's award triumph for book biography award

He was honoured for his second volume of memoirs, The Fry Chronicles, at a ceremony attended by stars and figures from the publishing world last night.

The biography category also included the critically acclaimed Wait For Me by the Duchess of Devonshire and Justine Picardie's biography Coco Chanel, The Legend And The Life.

Literary veterans Terry Pratchett and Martin Amis were given awards for outstanding achievement in recognition of their contribution to the publishing industry.

Amis, famed for books such as Money and London Fields, said he was "delighted" with the gong, adding: "I take this is as a boost for the so-called comic novel. I say so-called, because in fact nearly all novels are comic novels."

Pratchett – the Discworld novelist who has been battling Alzheimer's disease – said of his win: "I'm amazed. You find something that you like doing and do well and keep on doing it and suddenly they give you an award, when all I was really doing was having a lot of fun."

Broadcaster and political commentator Andrew Marr landed the non-fiction prize for The Making Of Modern Britain, beating fellow nominees including Lady Antonia Fraser and Bill Bryson.

Popular fiction book of the year went to David Nicholls' One Day, beating the likes of Jilly Cooper, while Hilary Mantel picked up the UK author of the year prize.

Yotam Ottolenghi outperformed Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater to food and drink book prize for Plenty, while best children's book was Zog by the celebrated creators of The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Their tale about an accident-prone dragon beat comedian David Walliams's book Mr Stink.

American author Jonathan Franzen – who became a worldwide sensation for his book The Corrections – collected the International Author of the Year trophy for Freedom.

And New Writer of the Year went to ceramic artist Edmund de Waal, for his collection of family memoirs, The Hare With Amber Eyes.

The gala ceremony at London's BBC TV Centre was hosted by David Baddiel. It will be broadcast on More4 at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 13.

The public will be invited to vote for an overall Book of the Year winner at www.galaxynationalbookawards.com. The result will be revealed on December 13.