Campaigns for books by Hessel, Garmus and Ali win Publishers’ Publicity Circle Awards

Campaigns for books by Katy Hessel, Bonnie Garmus and Monica Ali are among the winners of the Publishers’ Publicity Circle (PPC) Annual Awards 2022.

Awarded for the best campaigns carried out by book publicists between December 2021 and November 2022, The Bookseller Award for Hardback Non-Fiction went to Etty Eastwood of Cornerstone for her campaign for The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessell, and The Nielsen BookData Award for Best Debut Campaign went to Alison Barrow at Transworld for the campaign for Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry.

Highly commended in this category was the campaign by Olivia Mead of Penguin General for Joanna Quinn’s The Whalebone Theatre.

The Waterstones Award for Hardback Fiction went to Hayley Camis and Zoe Hood from Little, Brown for their campaign for Love Marriage by Monica Ali (with Najma Filnlay of Cornerstone commended for her work on Robert Harris’ Acts of Oblivion). The full list of winners can be found below.

The winners were crowned at a ceremony in London last night (13th March), and were judged by an independent panel of judges including representatives from sponsoring organisations.

The judging panel consisted of Caroline Sanderson (The Bookseller) – chair of judges; Emma Bradshaw (Books Are My Bag); Fiona Brownlee (Bloody Scotland); Bea Carvalho (Waterstones); Stuart Evers (NetGalley); Rachel Fox (Edinburgh International Book Festival); Jo James (Jo James: Festival and Event Management); Sally Morris (Daily Mail); Kate Neilan (First News); Corina Petcu (Nielsen BookData); and Emma Weinbren (The Grocer).

The British Book Awards judging team will select the shortlist for the Publicity Campaign of the Year British Book Award from this year’s PPC Annual award winners.

Sanderson said: “Each year it gets harder to amply express our admiration for the sheer creativity and tenacity that book publicists bring to a job that is also so often a life passion. The acres of media coverage, the sell out events, and the many grateful, happy authors are testimony to this. Congratulations to all tonight’s winners, and to all publicists who work so hard to bring books to ever more diverse audiences and make them such a cultural force in the process.”

Lucie Cuthbertson-Twiggs, publicity director for Square Peg at Vintage and chair of the PPC, added: “I want to congratulate every publicist who entered a campaign this year and all our shortlisted publicists, as well as extending a huge congratulations to this year’s winners. Your campaigns were inspiring, creative and dynamic. You were dedicated to reaching readers and putting your books at the heart of the cultural agenda. It’s been so wonderful to get together as an industry and celebrate everyone’s incredible achievements! I would like to say a massive thank you to our brilliant judges, our chair of judges, Caroline Sanderson, and to our sponsors. We couldn’t have done it without you all.” Lucie Cuthbertson-Twiggs now steps down as PPC chair and Joe Thomas, head of PR at Headline, takes over as chair for 2023.

The full list of winners is as follows

 

The Waterstones Award for Hardback Fiction

Winner: Love Marriage by Monica Ali – Hayley Camis and Zoe Hood, Little, Brown 
Highly Commended: Acts of Oblivion by Robert Harris – Najma Finlay, Cornerstone

The Bookseller Award for Hardback Non-Fiction

The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel – Etty Eastwood, Cornerstone

The Connell MPA Award for Best Celebrity Campaign

Murder Before Evensong by Rev Richard Coles – Virginia Woolstencroft, Orion

The Nielsen BookData Award for Best Debut Campaign

Winner: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – Alison Barrow, Transworld 
Highly Commended: The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn – Olivia Mead, Penguin General

The First News Award for Best Children’s and YA Celebrity Campaign

A Better Day by Alex George – Lucy Clayton, Hachette Children’s Group

The Children’s Book Award sponsored by the Daily Mail

Winner: Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell – Kirsten Cozens, Walker Books 
Highly Commended: You Don’t Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska – Beatrice Cross and Christian Lewis, Bloomsbury Children’s Books and Christian Lewis PR

The YALC Award for Best YA Campaign

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh – Emily Marples, Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Best Crime and Thriller Campaign sponsored by Bloody Scotland

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister – Ellie Hughes, Penguin Michael Joseph

The NetGalley Award for Best Academic Campaign

Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams – Corina Romonti, Penguin Press

The Award for Best Lifestyle, Gift and Humour Campaign sponsored by Books Are My Bag

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith – Ciara Berry, Penguin Michael Joseph

Edinburgh International Book Festival Award for Best Generic Campaign

East Side Voices edited by Helena Lee – Maria Garbutt-Lucero, Hodder & Stoughton

The Grocer Award for Best Cookery Book Campaign

Breadsong by Kitty and Al Tait – Ellen Williams, Bloomsbury

The PPC Award for Best Sports Book Campaign

How (Not) to be Strong by Alex Scott – Klara Zak, Cornerstone

Best Newcomer Award sponsored by Jo James

Babel: An Arcane History by R F Kuang – Susanna Peden, HarperFiction