CUMBRIAN author Sarah Hall remained upbeat after missing out on the £50,000 top award in this year's Man Booker Prize for her second novel The Electric Michelangelo.

Miss Hall, 30, was shortlisted for the prize and went to the presentation dinner in London on Tuesday only to hear the award go to Alan Hollinghurst for his novel The Line of Beauty.

She said: "I'm still seeing it as a congratulations rather than a commiserations, just for making the shortlist."

Miss Hall, like all the shortlisted authors, received a one-off bound copy of her book. Her copy was in heavy leather and red silk, which "folds out like a parcel".

She also received £2,500, which she said she would either put away in the bank to save up for a house or "blow it all on lollipops".

The event was televised live from the Royal Horticultural Halls, in Westminster, and cameramen dashed around the tables as the evening progressed.

Miss Hall wore a dress made especially for her by a friend in New York and she said: "I think everybody there felt really glamorous."

She is currently working on her third novel that will be partly based in the North of England.