Oxford writer Ian McEwan has had a second disappointment after his novel Atonement was beaten in the Whitbread Novel Award following his defeat in the Booker Prize.

He was beaten to the Whitbread award by Patrick Neate, who now goes forward to the overall Whitbread Book Of The Year title later this month with the winners of four other categories.

Another Oxford author, Philip Pullman, is still in the running for the £25,000 Book of the Year title.

He has been shortlisted for the children's award, which will be announced on , Tuesday, January 22, moments before the main winner is announced.

His book The Amber Spyglass has been acclaimed by critics as a literary triumph.

Mr McEwan -- a previous Whitbread Novel Award winner in 1987 with A Child In Time -- had been in the running for Atonement, which was voted "the people's Booker" in a BBC poll.

Two other novelists were also up for the Whitbread prize, Helen Dunmore with The Siege and Andrew Miller with Oxygen.

Mr Neate, who is 31 and lives in Hammersmith, west London, wins £5,000, as do three other Whitbread prize-winners.

Sid Smith landed the Whitbread First Novel Award for his book Something Like A House. The 51-year-old, a freelance sub-editor who lives in Islington, north London, spent seven years of his working life as a dustman and labourer before turning to journalism. Selima Hill won the poetry title with Bunny.

Last year's Book Of The Year victor was former Oxford resident Matthew Kneale for English Passengers.