The London Book Fair, in association with the Publishers Association, has opened online submissions for its sixth International Excellence Awards today.
The awards celebrate publishing success in 16 categories, representing the best publishing ambassadors, innovative publishing, and ground-breaking initiatives in the industry. Awards are given to companies and individuals across the world and across sectors, with categories including Bookstore of the Year, Audiobook Publisher, Educational Initiatives, Literary Agent, and Library of the Year.
Companies or individuals can enter themselves, and, publishers are also encouraged to nominate companies or individuals whom they feel deserve to be recognised for outstanding achievement this year.
Jacks Thomas, Director of The London Book Fair, said: Back for a sixth year, The LBF International Excellence Awards will once again give us all the opportunity to see some of the interesting and great output from publishers and others within the industry around the world. Commitment, passion, excellence and innovation are the themes that come through in the nominations. From the best Library, to the two Market Focus Indonesia categories; from the best Audiobook Publisher and Literary Festival Trade Award to winning Educational initiative, I am looking forward to seeing the work showcased across 16 categories this year.
Stephen Lotinga, Chief Executive, the UK Publishers Association, said: We are very proud to support The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards, always a highlight of the Fair and a moment when excellence across the industry is both showcased and celebrated. The awards cover the entire scope of international publishing and continue to go from strength to strength. I would really encourage people to nominate and I look forward to seeing the outcome.
Open to countries outside the UK only:
• The Audiobook Publisher Award
• The Academic and Professional Publisher Award
• The Educational Initiatives Award
• The Educational Learning Resources Award
• The International Literary Agent Award
• The Literary Translation Initiative Award
• The Literary Festival Award
• The Bookstore of the Year Award, sponsored by Gardners
• The Library of the Year Award
• The Rights Professional Award
Open to all countries, including the UK:
• The London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award
• Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) Award: Initiative
• Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) Award: Publisher
Open to UK only:
• The Inclusivity in Publishing Award
Open to Market Focus Indonesia only:
• The Indonesia Adult Trade Award
• The Indonesia Children’s, Young Adult and Education Award
Nominations and submissions in these categories will be reviewed by panels of UK judges with relevant expertise in each category.
The awards ceremony will also celebrate several other awards including the Association for Publishing Education (APE) Awards. Please note nominations will not be sought for these categories with judging undertaken by APE respectively.
This year’s winners included companies from the Baltic countries, USA and India, with Latvia winning The Library of the Year Award as well as two Market Focus Baltics Publisher awards. The newly-introduced prize Audiobook Publisher of the Year was awarded to Penguin Random House USA, while Deborah Harris (The Deborah Harris Agency) from Israel and Gloria Gutierrez (Balcells Agency) from Spain both took home The Literary Agent Award.
The awards, which celebrate international excellence in the book industry, cover the entire scope of international publishing, including academic and scholarly children’s, literary translation and bookselling.
The LBF International Excellence Awards ceremony will be an invite-only evening event on Tuesday 12th March 2019, the first day of LBF 2019, The Conference Centre, Olympia, London.
Entries close Friday 21 December 2018. Full details on the entry criteria for each award category are on the LBF website.