Booker nearly went to wrong winner

Organisers of Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize for literature were red-faced on Thursday after they accidentally named one of the short-listed candidates as the winner. An announcement on the prize’s official website said Canadian writer Yann Martel had won for his book Life of Pi — even though the judges have not met and are not due to do so until next Tuesday.

The 2002 winner will be officially named on Tuesday. The leak prompted several punters to place money on Martel with bookmakers William Hill, prompting them to halt betting on the outcome of prize.

‘‘We were baffled by the string of bets for the Martel book, several of them stakes of 100 pounds a time, and then concerned when the book had already been announced as the winner,’’ a William Hill spokesman said. ‘‘We thought it might be wise at this point to close the wagering book pending enquiries.’’

Booker Prize organisers said the announcement was an innocent mistake and added Martel was not necessarily the winner. ‘‘It was just a daft administrative error,’’ a spokeswoman for the award said.