WITH ALL THE ATTENTION GIVEN TO THE MONTANA NZ BOOK AWARDS I ALMOST OVERLOOKED THE FOLLOWING INDUSTRY AWARDS. OOPS !

The Thorpe-Bowker Industry Awards are a chance for industry peers to acknowledge those whose commitment, creativity and hard work sets them apart from the rest. Publishers vote for the best bookshops, and bookshops vote for the best publishers. The following are the 2008 winners:

The Thorpe-Bowker Independent Bookshop of the Year
Winner - Unity Books, Wellington - (pic left)

Runner-up - The Children's Bookshop, Wellington

The Thorpe-Bowker Group Bookshop of the Year
Winner - Dymocks Newmarket (pic left)
Runner-up - Dymocks Wellington

The Thorpe-Bowker Regional Bookshop of the Year (North Island)
Winner - Hedleys Booksellers, Masterton
Equal Runners-up - Books A Plenty, Tauranga, Bruce McKenzie Booksellers, Palmerston North, The Village Bookshop, Matakana

The Thorpe-Bowker Regional Bookshop of the Year (South Island)
Winner - Page & Blackmore Booksellers, Nelson - (staff pic left)

Runner-up - The Children's Bookshop, Christchurch

The Thorpe-Bowker Award for Agent/Distributor Representing Overseas Publishers
Winner - Random House New Zealand
Runner-up - HarperCollinsPublishers New Zealand

The Thorpe-Bowker Award for Promotional and Sales Support
Winner - Random House New Zealand
Runner-up - Penguin New Zealand

The Thorpe-Bowker Award for New Zealand Publishing
Equal Winners - Gecko Press, Random House New Zealand
Runner-up - Craig Potton Publishing

The Thorpe-Bowker Award for Sales Rep of the Year
Winner - Anna Applin (until recently with Hachette Livre NZ)
Runner-up - Ross Lorimer (Archetype Allen & Unwin)

Warmest congratulations to you all.