British author Howard Jacobson wins Booker Prize

British author Howard Jacobson was Tuesday picked as the surprise winner of this year's prestigious Booker Prize for literature for his comic novel " The Finkler Question".

Jacobson beat the favourite Tom McCarthy to pick up the award and 50,000 pounds (77,000 dollars, 60,000 euros) in prize money for his tale of two old schoolfriends and their teacher with its themes of love, sex and Jewishness.

His triumph comes after previous disappointments -- he had twice before been longlisted for the prize, but had never before made it to the shortlist.

Accepting the prize at a cermony in London, he said: "One cannot underestimate in these times the importance of this wonderful prize."

Five judges made their decision during a one-hour meeting chaired by poet Andrew Motion.

Motion described the book as "very funny, of course, but also very clever, very sad and very subtle.

"It is all that it seems to be and much more than it seems to be. A completely worthy winner of this great prize.

One of the highest-profile awards in English language literature, the annual Booker Prize is awarded for the best work of fiction by an author from the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland or Zimbabwe.

Contenders must have been published in the past year and write in English.

The prize all but guarantees an upsurge in book sales