Perfect 10 for Pearson/Penguin on BIA shortlists

14.03.13 | Tom Tivnan - The Bookseller

The Pearson/Penguin group has become the first company to hit double figures in The Bookseller Industry Awards (BIA) nominations, notching up 10 for the 2013 instalment.
Penguin and sister company Dorling Kindersley will be in direct competition, both vying for the Bonnier-sponsored Publisher of the Year and Children’s Publisher of Year, while Pearson will contest the Academic, Educational & Professional Publisher of the Year.

Altogether, it will be the biggest ever BIAs, with 19 prizes given out on the night, plus the Booksellers Association’s Gerry Davies Award for lifetime services to bookselling. The awards will be handed out on a gala ceremony on 13th May at the Hilton, Park Lane, London.

Hachette follows closely behind Pearson/Penguin with nine nominations, led by Hodder & Stoughton’s four and Orion’s three. Orion contends for top publisher, and with 93-year-old George Weidenfeld nominated in the Imprint and Editor category, it has the distinction of having the oldest person ever shortlisted for the BIAs.

Random House is up for seven gongs, including Publisher and Digital Strategy of the Year, plus it has two separate entries for Imprint and Editor: Matt Phillips, editorial director of Yellow Jersey Press and Selina Walker, publisher at Century and Arrow. HarperCollins, meanwhile, will defend its 2012 Publisher of the Year crown, and has a further four nominations.

On the retail side, Foyles, Waterstones and Blackwell’s all have three nods, with Foyles trying to retain National Bookseller of the Year. Marion Akehurst of Blackwell’s, Wellcome Trust, meanwhile, attempts to become the fourth consecutive manager from the chain to pick up the Manager of the Year prize.

 The Full Shortlists.