NZ Book Trade Industry Awards 2015 winners announced
The winners of the 2015 New Zealand Book Trade Industry Awards were announced in Auckland on 21 June.
The winners in each category are:
Publisher of the Year
Potton & Burton, newly renamed from Craig Potton Publishers
‘Potton & Burton show exceptional commitment to quality in its publishing programme, its production values, its relationships with customers and authors alike, and in the delivery of an essential distribution service. As well as this, the company’s dedication to New Zealand stories shines through in their regularly award-winning books,’ said judge Jill Rawnsley.
Bookseller of the Year
Unity Books, Wellington
‘Unity Books runs 50 events per year, and their support of NZ publishing accounts for 18% of their sales. Unity has proven over the years a great training place for aspiring booksellers. Overall, they win this award for their general excellence, and the special place they occupy in the community,’ said judge Carolyn Morgan.
Young Book Retailer of the Year
Jenna Todd, Time Out Books, Mt Eden
‘Jenna manages the shop, which had its best ever sales in 2014, in an exemplary manner. Not only does she run their media & social media effectively, the customer testimonials for her work were outstanding,’ said judge Karen Ferns.
Sales Rep of the Year
Tammy Ruffell, HarperCollins NZ Lower North Island rep
‘Tammy is tireless in seeking ways to inspire customers, and has shown great leadership and resilience in facing head-on, with those customers, the challenges of the past year (or few),’ said Rawnsley.
Marketing Strategy of the Year
Penguin Random House NZ, for Chelsea Winter’s Everyday Delicious
‘The winning marketing strategy for 2015 saw an impressive result for the publisher and Chelsea Winter, the author, whose input into the campaign is every bit as contributory to the results. It is a competitive area of publishing, but the team at PRH pulled it off beautifully,’ said Rawnsley.
NZ Book Industry Special Award
Bridget Williams Books
‘Bridget Williams Books wins this for their innovative list, and how effectively they have embraced the new digital age. They have proven their commitment to quality non-fiction publishing, publishing the important Tangata Whenua, while launching their new imprint BWB Texts over 2014,’ said Morgan.
The New Zealand Book Trade Lifetime Achievement award was presented to the Parsons Family of Auckland and Wellington ‘for the inter-generational contribution the family have made to the industry’. The award recognises ‘those that have made a long and out-of-the-ordinary contribution to both publishing and bookselling’, and was previously presented to Michael Moynahan (2014) and Graham Beattie (2013).
The awards were judged by Karen Ferns, Jill Rawnsley, Carolyn Morgan, Graham Beattie and Karren Beanland.
For the first time this year, applicants were invited to self-nominate, allowing in particular smaller bookstores who didn’t frequently see publishing reps to highlight their own efforts to improve sales.
The Book Industry Awards are sponsored by PANZ, Nielsen and Booksellers NZ, and were administered by Booksellers NZ’s Book Trade Liaison Committee.
Category: Local news
