British Book Awards judges revealed

Former Little, Brown chief executive Ursula Mackenzie, Front Row’s Samira Ahmed, television presenter June Sarpong (pictured), past Publishers Association c.e.o. Simon Juden, authors Peter James, Lorraine Pascale, Dreda Say Mitchell and Fanny Blake, and literary journalists Andrew Holgate, Arifa Akbar and Claire Armitstead are among the judges for the British Book Awards 2017.

In total, more than 400 entries have been submitted for the awards, which will bring together authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians and literary agents on 8th May for a night celebrating the entire book business.
Trade judges include Ottakar’s founder James Heneage, Templar founder Amanda Wood, strategic director at Clays Kate McFarlan, Edinburgh Book Festival director Nick Barley, retail consultant Michael Neil and Bloomsbury’s former sales director David Ward.

Among judges for the books categories are Hay Festival’s Peter Florence, founder of The Pool Sam Baker, author Dorothy Koomson, literary journalists Alex Clark, Charlotte Heathcote and Jake Kerridge, and booksellers Lucy Menendez (W H Smith), Sheila O’Reilly (Village Books), Karen Brindle (Tesco) and Joe Knox and Chris White (both Waterstones).

Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of the trade awards, said: “The range and calibre of this year’s judges reflect how important the awards are, and how coveted it will be to emerge as one of the winners on the night. Over five judging days, we expect the deliberations to be forensic, fair and, of course, fun. Good luck to all those who submitted.”

The Bookseller’s contributing editor Cathy Rentzenbrink, who chairs the books categories, said: “Our judges include a wide variety of people involved in the noble pursuit of bringing books to readers, whether that is by writing them, writing about them, selling them or hosting events. Industry experts always bring a different perspective depending on what they do and how they do it, and I’m really looking forward to all the interesting conversations during the judging process.”

The British Book Awards will take place on Monday 8th May. You can buy tickets here