New at the British Book Awards: 41 Contenders in Small Presses

In News by Porter Anderson

The British Book Awards organizers report having ‘an incredibly strong list of more than 50 submissions’ for its new small-press category.

Image – iStockphoto: Brian A. Jackson

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Overall Winner Shortlists Among Independent Publishers
Each year, as regular readers of Publishing Perspectives know, organizers of the British Book Awards add new honors to their program, widening the reach of the Nibbies, as they’re known, under their still relatively new ownership and management by Nigel Roby and The Bookseller.

This year, the awards have added an honor for Small Press of the Year. The key criterion for size is a publishing company with annual revenues of less than £1 million annually (US$1.3 million), and this award is sponsored in its inaugural year by the CPI Group.

As in the case of the Independent Bookstore of the Year honor—we covered its shortlists here—the small prize starts with a group of regional finalists from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, North England, Midlands, East England, London, Southeast England, and Southwest England. That’s why it starts with such a large slate of shortlisters.

The small-press winner in each of these regional competitions will be announced on March 13 during the London Book Fair (March 12 to 14), and the overall winner from the regional sorting will then be shortlisted for the Independent Publisher of the Year prize, to be revealed May 13 at the Nibbies’ ceremony at Grosvenor House.

In a prepared statement on today’s (February 22) announcement of the shortlists, Bookseller editor Philip Jones is quoted, saying, “The first year of this new award has proved to be an eye opener, with an incredibly strong list of more than 50 submissions from which the regional and country shortlists have been selected.

“Small and perfectly formed, these publishers show a sector that is diverse, imaginative and thriving.”

More about the British Book Awards is at a site for the program here.

British Book Awards Regional Small Press Shortlists

South East

  • b small publishing
  • Fine Feather Press
  • Globe Law and Business
  • SMH Books
  • September Publishing

Ireland

  • Little Island Books
  • The Lilliput Press
  • Wordwell

London

  • Cassava Republic
  • Daunt Books Publishing
  • Henningham Family Press
  • Jacaranda Books
  • Lantana Publishing
  • Saqi Books
  • The School of Life
  • Tiny Owl Publishing
  • Canbury Press

Midlands

  • Nine Arches Press
  • North Staffordshire Press
  • Otter-Barry Books
  • Practical Action Publishing
  • Sweet Cherry Publishing

North

  • Bluemoose Books
  • Carcanet Press
  • Comma Press
  • Dead Ink
  • Smokestack Books

Scotland

  • 404 Ink
  • BHP Comics
  • Charco Press
  • Scotland Street Press
  • Speculative Books
  • The Lunicorn Press

South West

  • Burning Eye Books
  • Handheld Press
  • Little Toller Books
  • Wild Things Publishing

East

  • Dedalus
  • Galley Beggar Press

Wales

  • Firefly Press
  • Parthian Books

More coverage of the British Book Awards from Publishing Perspectives is here. And more on publishing awards is here.

About the Author

Porter Anderson

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Porter Anderson is a non-resident fellow of Trends Research & Advisory, and he has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.