Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry Awards 2025 winners announced

Tuesday, 22 July 2025   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

The winners of the 2025 Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry Awards have been announced by Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand and the Publishers Association of New Zealand/Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ).

Winners are:

Ugly Hill Press Bookshop of the Year

  • The Martinborough Books & Post

NielsenIQ BookData NZ Award for the Bestselling New Zealand Title

  • Tasty (Chelsea Winter, A&U Aotearoa New Zealand)

NielsenIQ BookData NZ Publisher of the Year

  • HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand

Sales Professional of the Year Award 

  • Ross Lorimer, Archetype Book Agents

Marketing and Publicity Strategy of the Year Award

  • Penguin Random House New Zealand, for the campaign to launch The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone (Louise Ward & Gareth Ward)

Booksellers’ Choice Adult Award

  • The Bookstore Detectives: Dead Girl Gone (Louise Ward & Gareth Ward, Penguin)

Hayden + Rollett Booksellers’ Choice Children’s Book Award

  • The Grimmelings (Rachael King, A&U Aotearoa New Zealand)

Publishing Trailblazer of the Year Award

  • Jasmine Sargent (Ngāti Porou), editor, Te Herenga Waka University Press

TitlePage Bookselling Trailblazer of the Year

  • Mandy Myles, owner, Bookety Book Books

Libro.fm Audiobook of the Year Award

  • Return to Blood (Michael Bennett, narrated by Miriama McDowell, S&S)
  • Honourable mention: The Bone People (Keri Hulme, narrated by Ruby Solly, PRH NZ Audio)

Publishers Association of New Zealand Lifetime Achievement Award

  • Karen Ferns, general manager, HarperCollins NZ

Booksellers Association of Aotearoa New Zealand Lifetime Achievement Awards

  • Bruce McKenzie, owner, Bruce McKenzie Books, Palmerston North
  • Jo McColl, owner, Unity Books
  • Tony Moores, director, Poppies Howick. 

The 2025 Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry Award judges were Anna Burkey (Australia Reads), Steve Braunias (Newsroom), and Anita Kingston and Kevin Chapman (Upstart Press).

Last year’s winners included Moa Press, an imprint of Hachette, which won the award for publisher of the year, while Petronella’s Bookstore and The Booklover were jointly named in the bookshop of the year category.

 

Category: Awards Local news