Lost Lives, a book which chronicles the deaths that have occurred as a result of violence in Northern Ireland, was tonight awarded the Christopher Ewart-Biggs memorial prize.
The book, which has already been acclaimed by the Taoiseach Mr Ahern, the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, and the former US President Mr Bill Clinton, devoted almost a million words detailing the deaths of all the victims.
Belfast journalists David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters and Chris Thornton as well as two academics, Dr Brian Feeney and David McVea, spent eight years compiling the book.
The prize which is awarded every two years, commemorates the British Ambassador to Dublin, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, who was killed by an IRA bomb in l976.
McKittrick, the London Independent's Ireland correspondent, who was previously awarded the prize for his journalism in 1987, said: "We are honoured to receive this award for a work which we hope shows the futility of violence and brings home the sheer waste and human cost of the troubles."
The presentation was made tonight by former Taoiseach Mr Garret FitzGerald at the Dublin residence of the current British ambassador, Sir Ivor Roberts.
Lost Liveswas described by The Irish Timesas "the greatest single piece of scholarship in either journalism or in historical studies that had ever been conducted in this country, with encyclopaedic detail, towering integrity and moral compassion."
PA