Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Pan Mac wins publisher and book of the year at 2015 ABIAs

The winners of the 2015 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) were announced in Sydney on 21 May.

Pan Macmillan was one of the big winners of the night, taking out the awards for publisher of the year, book of the year for The 52-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton) and biography of the year for A Bone of Fact (David Walsh).

Black Inc. won small publisher of the year and Hachette picked up several awards for its debut novelists Brooke Davis and Maxine Beneba Clarke.

The full list of winners is:

Book of the year

  • The 52-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan)


General fiction book of the year

  • Lost & Found (Brooke Davis, Hachette)


Literary fiction book of the year

  • Foreign Soil (Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette)


General nonfiction book of the year

  • Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World (Tim Low, Viking)


Biography of the year

  • A Bone of Fact (David Walsh, Macmillan)


Book of the year for older children (8 to 14 years)

  • Withering-By-Sea (Judith Rossell, HarperCollins)


Book of the year for younger children (0 to 8 years)

  • The 52-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan)


Illustrated book of the year

  • Anzac Treasures (Peter Pedersen, Murdoch Books)


International book of the year

  • All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr, HarperCollins)


Matt Richell award for new writer

  • Lost & Found (Brooke Davis, Hachette)


Small publishers’ adult book of the year

  • Diary of a Foreign Minister (Bob Carr, NewSouth)


Small publishers’ children’s book of the year

  • Tea and Sugar Christmas (Jane Jolly , illus by Robert Ingpen, NLA).

 

In the industry awards, the winners are:

Publisher of the year

Pan Macmillan

The judges cited the Pan Macmillan’s ‘overall success across a variety of areas’, including sales performance, awards and marketing of new authors and established authors.

Small publisher of the year

Black Inc. (with special mention to Jane Curry Publishing)

The judges described Black Inc.’s publishing program as ‘substantial and ambitious’, achieving ‘significant sales growth, as well as making important contributions to the national conversation’.

Innovation award

Hardie Grant (with special mention to Readable English)

Judges noted the publisher’s ‘commitment to the development of new digital paths for representation of their products, including their readiness to trial and experiment, their entrepreneurial innovation in building new avenues to market and successfully changing consumer behaviour’.

Independent book retailer of the year

Avenue Bookstore in Melbourne (with special mention to Boffins in Perth)

Judges cited the ‘impressive effort and energy of the company, the opening of a new store and the success they’ve achieved from pushing hard in a sometimes challenging market’.

National book retailer of the year

Dymocks

Judges noted Dymocks’ ‘consistent performance and commitment to promoting the new work of authors and their publishers’.

Online book retailer of the year

Booktopia

Judges described Booktopia as a ‘very efficient, well-run business contributing to sales of books in Australia’, which ‘compares well against international benchmarks’.

Lloyd O’Neil Award for service to the Australian book industry

Readings’ managing director Mark Rubbo (read his acceptance speech here)

Pixie O’Harris Award for service to Australian children’s books

Editor Celia Jellett.

ABIA spokesperson and HarperCollins Australia CEO James Kellow said in a statement: ‘The Australian Book Industry Awards is the only event that unites all the book makers of the industry, bringing together authors and publishers, and also the retailers, editors, marketers and industry professionals who help bring Australians great stories to read.’

The awards were selected by more than 100 industry figures, publishers and booksellers.  To see the shortlists, click here.

 

Category: Local news