Society of Young Publishers appoints regional committee chairs and announces new objectives

Several appointments have been made to the regional branch committees of the Society of Young Publishers (SYP), which has also announced its new objectives ahead of its 75th anniversary year.

The SYP South-West committee will be co-chaired by Sophie Dickinson and Charlotte Grant, while Rose Winter will head the Ireland Committee. Imogen Davies is the new chair of the North Committee, while Alisha Raggatt and Isabelle Cowles will be leading the Oxford Committee. Leyre Veras Preciado and Meghan Capper are co-chairs of SYP London.

Averie Watson and Hayley Cadel are current co-chairs of SYP Scotland, which will be opening applications for the next year in April. Michaela O’Callaghan, trade marketing executive at Bounce Sales & Marketing, will continue her work as co-chair of the UK committee, and will be joined this year by Eleanor Gaffney, project editor at Dialogue and the previous chair of the South-West branch.

The society also announced its new objectives, reinforcing its commitment to "society-wide collaboration with strengthened internal communication practices that will elevate the points of connection between branches, and encourage feedback among volunteers".

The SYP has developed several new roles across the branches, particularly within membership and digital content, to encourage cross-branch initiatives that will help expand its outreach and maximise membership benefits. This will include revamping the member-exclusive resource centre and the SYP website, as well as expanding the mentorship, "up-skilling" and networking opportunities offered to the SYP Ahead stream—the strand of SYP members seeking development in their first 10 years of the industry.

The SYP has also pledged its commitment to developing regional diversity initiatives, the Spare Room Project and the Spare Zoom Project, which aim to increase the accessibility of the publishing industry for aspiring publishers in the UK and Ireland. The society will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a host of activities and content looking back at the history of the SYP.

“Last year, we made some significant steps to increase collaboration between branches, and it has been great to see these coming into action already," O’Callaghan said. "It is an exciting year for the SYP, and I am excited to see how we can align our SYP 75th anniversary celebrations with our commitment to regional diversity and ensuring all those looking to get into and ahead within the industry feel informed and encouraged to do so."

Gaffney added: “We have brilliant plans in the pipeline for celebrating the 75th anniversary and will continue to champion all of our regional branches, as well as the Spare Room and Spare Zoom Projects, as the society strives to help people from all around the UK and Ireland get into and ahead in the publishing industry."

The SYP currently has a few voluntary committee roles open to applications.