Scotiabank Giller Prize winning author Linden MacIntyre hams it up for photographs at the Giller Prize gala in Toronto. (Canadian Press)

TORONTO - Linden MacIntyre, who is best known for his journalism with the CBC and not nearly as much for his work as an author, prepared a speech for after the Scotiabank Giller Prize was to be awarded Tuesday night, and was ready to go home, look in the mirror and tell himself: you were nominated and that's good enough.

But to his surprise - and the shock of much of the audience at the glitzy award dinner, which collectively gasped after his name was announced - MacIntyre's second novel, "The Bishop's Man," was declared the best of the year by a panel of three judges, Canadian Alistair MacLeod, American Russell Banks and Brit Victoria Glendinning.

Host Seamus O'Regan's jaw dropped as MacIntyre's name was called by Giller founder Jack Rabinovitch.

"By an accident of consensus, it's me," MacIntyre said to laughs during his acceptance speech.

MacIntyre beat out Kim Echlin, Annabel Lyon, Colin McAdam and Anne Michaels to take home the Giller, Canada's richest literary prize, which comes with a cheque for $50,000. The runners-up each receive $5,000.

Lyon's "The Golden Mean" had been considered the front-runner by many, largely because the first-time novelist had received the most pre-Giller hype and her book was also nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

"The Bishop's Man" tells the story of a Roman Catholic priest who is tasked with keeping his colleagues in line and stamping out sex abuse scandals before they go public.

He said the troubling subject matter of the novel has rubbed some potential readers the wrong way, but he insisted the story had to be told.

"There's a lot of people who say it's unnecessary, why are you writing a novel? We can understand why you'd write a newspaper story or a do a TV documentary but you didn't have to write this novel," MacIntyre said.

"I had to write this novel because what I wrote about in this novel is true, and the truth of this novel is something I couldn't really approach to my satisfaction in any of the other forms I have learned over the years, in radio, television and print."

In an interview with The Canadian Press in the weeks leading up to the award ceremony, MacIntyre hinted that he might be ready to give up his day job with the CBC to write novels full time.

On Tuesday night, he said winning the Giller hasn't convinced him to do so, but he'll work whichever way allows him to tell stories that need to be told.

"Since the time I was like 20-years-old ... my objective in life was to tell stories and I want to tell stories as best I can," he said.

"Whether I'm going to spend the rest of my life writing novels or doing documentaries ... it depends on what is the best way I can tell good stories."

MacIntyre said he's sad that his time with his fellow short-listers has come to an end and wishes he could share his award with them.

"(Winning) is humbling because - this is trite - but there were five of us and we got to know each other in the last couple of weeks ... and we all turned out to be a tribe," he said.

"We talked the other day about what a shame it is that one of us has to rise out of the tribe and go away, why can't we just take all this and split it and form a commune some place."

The judges had narrowed down a field of nearly 100 books to a long list of 12 and then a short list of five, before picking MacIntyre's.

They said their decision hadn't been made until late Tuesday morning.

"When we met this morning we really, really didn't know," said Glendinning, adding that "The Bishop's Man" was eventually chosen because "it's a very courageous book."

In his speech, MacIntyre thanked the priests and nuns of the Catholic church who work hard to do their best "despite the failures of their leadership and in spite of the failures of a few people that they thought were working on the same team."

MacIntyre also wrote the novel "Long Stretch," the non-fiction book "Who Killed Ty Conn," and a memoir entitled, "Causeway: A Passage From Innocence."

In attendance at the swanky televised award show - which was staged in a ballroom within Toronto's posh Four Seasons hotel - were big literary names and previous Giller winners including Margaret Atwood, Joseph Boyden and Vincent Lam. Rick Mercer, Measha Brueggergosman, Rachelle Lefevre and Hugh Dillon were among the celebrities also on hand.

The award show will be rebroadcast twice on CTV on Wednesday - at 10 a.m. and noon ET - and will be streamed on ctv.ca.

Before handing out the Giller, Rabinovitch wrapped up his remarks by repeating the same message he delivers every year.

"For the price of a good meal for two in (Toronto) you can buy all the books," he said.

"So stay at home, eat at home and buy all the books."