Grohl, Rashford and Dunn campaigns win at PPC awards

Campaigns for Dave Grohl, Marcus Rashford and Jane Dunn have been named winners at the Publishers’ Publicity Circle (PPC) Annual Awards, celebrating the best book publicity campaigns delivered over the past year. 

Victors were crowned at a ceremony in London on 7th March. Chair of judges, The Bookseller’s associate editor Caroline Sanderson, praised the “exceptional standard” across this year’s entries, “particularly given all the trials and tribulations of recent times”.  

The Waterstones Hardback Fiction Award was scooped by Orion’s Virginia Woolstencroft for Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, while Hodder & Stoughton’s Eleni Lawrence picked up The Bookseller Award for Hardback Non-Fiction with Vaxxers by Professor Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green. 

Simon & Schuster’s Jessica Barratt and Rebecca McCarthy took home Best Celebrity Campaign for The Storyteller by Dave Grohl, while Quercus’ Elizabeth Masters and Ana McLaughlin were highly commended for Putting the Rabbit in the Hat by Brian Cox. 

Profile’s Drew Jerrison snapped up the the Mo Siewcharran Award for Best Debut Campaign for Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, with Penguin General’s Jane Gentle, Anna Ridley and Rosie Safaty being highly commended for their work on Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. 

The Best Crime & Thriller Campaign, sponsored by Bloody Scotland, was won by Profile’s Jerrison for The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. Vintage’s Aidan O’Neill and Mia Quibell-Smith landed the award for Best Lifestyle, Gift and Humour Campaign, sponsored by Books Are My Bag, for Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. 

HQ’s Joe Thomas scooped the NetGalley Award for Paperback Original, Fiction or Non-Fiction, for The Cancer Ladies Running Club by Josie Lloyd and Yale University Press’ Chloe Foster won Best Academic Campaign for John Craxton: A Life of Gifts by Ian Collins. 

Andersen Press’ Paul Black was named the winner for the Edinburgh International Book Festival Award for Best Generic Campaign for Elmer Pride by David McKee, with Midas PR highly commended for Bookshop Day from the Booksellers Association. 

Macmillan Children’s Books’ Jo Hardacre and Amber Ivatt were awarded the Best Children’s and YA Celebrity Campaign award for You Are a Champion by Marcus Rashford with Carl Anka, and Ebury’s Alice King snapped up the Cookery Book Award for Jane’s Patisserie by Jane Dunn. 

Simon & Schuster’s Sabah Khan picked up the PPC Award for Best Sports Book Campaign for Why We Kneel, How We Rise by Michael Holding and Scholastic’s Harriet Dunlea won the Children’s Book Award, sponsored by the Daily Mail, for The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh by Helen Rutter. HarperCollins Children’s Books’ Tina Mories was highly commended for The Last Bear by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold. 

Usborne’s Katarina Jovanovic landed the Best YA Campaign for The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. Hodder & Stoughton’s Niamh Anderson took home the Best Newcomer Award, sponsored by Jo James, for The Lost Storyteller by Amanda Block. 

Becky Short, head of publicity at Transworld and chair of the PPC said: "The winning campaigns this year are some of the most innovative, tenacious and unmissable I’ve seen. Publicists have navigated a shifting media landscape, on-again-off-again events schedules and many other challenges with aplomb to create publicity campaigns that have truly set the cultural agenda. 

"I’m in awe of the shortlisted and winning campaigns this year—they just go to show how brilliant and talented our membership are. Congratulations to all." 

The shortlist for Publicity Campaign of the Year at the British Book Awards (BBA) is selected by the BBA judging team from the category-winning campaigns at the PPC Annual Awards. 

This year’s judges comprised Sanderson, Books Are My Bag’s Emma Bradshaw, Jo James of Jo James Events & Festivals Management, Bloody Scotland’s Fiona Brownlee, Waterstones’ Bea Carvalho, NetGalley’s Stuart Evers, YALC’s Stevie Finegan, Edinburgh International Book Festival‘s Rachel Fox and Nielsen BookData’s Corina Petcu.  

Short now steps down as PPC chair and Lucie Cuthbertson-Twiggs, publicity director for Square Peg at Vintage, will become chair for 2022.