Nibbies to hold virtual ceremony on 29th June

The British Book Awards, the annual celebration of the best books, bookshops and publishers, will return on 29th June with a virtual ceremony open to all.

Talking about the new-format Nibbies, The Bookseller's chief executive Nigel Roby said: "We have been able to assess how organisations like BAFTA have created compelling virtual awards and I am sure that we will have a format that is going to engage everyone from our fantastic shortlisted indie bookshops to our celebrated authors and to the book-buying public."

Highlights of the virtual ceremony will include Book of the Year—won in 2019 by Sally Rooney's Normal People (Faber)—as well as Independent Bookshop of the Year, which last year was scooped by Edinburgh's Golden Hare Books.

The Nibbies will be presented in two stages: at 4pm, the awards for bookshops and publishers, and then at 6pm, the awards for the books, author and illustrator of the year. The awards will be presented by some of the UK's biggest authors.

Roby said: "Using the video technology that we have all become so familiar with during lockdown to get the wonderful book trade into people's living rooms is a fantastic opportunity. The Nibbies celebrate the best of the UK book trade but they are also a lot of fun and we'll be recreating that across social media. We can't wait to make it happen."

The awards aim to celebrate success from all parts of the book trade across the country. Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller, said: "The Nibbies celebrate the biggest and best books of the year, and the authors, publishers and booksellers behind them. The unstinting support we have received from them for the awards this year in such difficult times has been hugely gratifying, and underlines their wider importance to the business. Their support and that of our sponsors will allow the Nibbies to continue to champion the many big and small businesses, from indie bookshops to the UK's small presses, that create today’s must reads."