The British Book Awards 2022 trade shortlists reveal those in contention for a Nibbie

Hachette leads the way at the British Book Awards, with 14 nominations for the trade awards, including two of its divisions, Orion and John Murray Press, up for Publisher of the Year. HarperCollins has nine entries, including three in the Editor category and two in Children’s Publisher. Penguin Random House (PRH), including DK, and Pan Macmillan are on eight apiece, with Simon & Schuster on seven.

There is also a wide selection of indies, with Bloomsbury leading the way on five entries, and nominations for Faber and Canongate, the last two will contest both the Independent Publisher award, as well as the overall Publisher prize.

In that category there are nine companies vying for the prize, with many pulling in record performances after another strong year for the book trade. Hachette and PRH dominate with two publishers each, John Murray Press and Orion, and Ebury and Penguin General respectively. They are up against Bloomsbury, Usborne, Canongate, Faber and Simon & Schuster.

Retail faced challenges during 2021, but this year’s shortlistees for Book Retailer of the Year coped admirably with the disruption

The Imprint of the Year shortlist sees two nominations for Pan Macmillan, with Bluebird and Tor, up against S&S’ Gallery Books, Oneworld’s Rock the Boat, PRH’s Viking, Hachette’s Piatkus and Profile’s Viper, as well as Head of Zeus, winner of Independent Publisher of the Year in 2017, which has since been acquired by Bloomsbury.

In the Children’s Publisher of the Year shortlist, there are two nominations for HarperCollins (Farshore and HarperCollins Children’s Books), as well as nods for DK, Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, Macmillan Children’s Books and Hachette Children’s Group. Independents Andersen Press, Usborne and Knights Of also made the list, alongside last year’s winner Wonderbly, whose personalised books and direct-to-consumer model flourished during lockdowns.

Independent publishers pivoted nimbly in another year of disruption, and this year’s shortlist sees eight indies in contention. Half were on last year’s shortlist and half are new shortlistees, covering everything from acclaimed trade publishers and specialists to centuries-old names and digital-led start-ups. They comprise Canelo, Joffe Books, Thames & Hudson, the Folio Society, Canongate, Pushkin Press, SPCK and Faber.

Retail faced challenges during 2021, but this year’s shortlistees for Book Retailer of the Year coped admirably with the disruption. Among them are family-owned online bookseller A Great Read, shortlisted for the second time, alongside Blackwell’s and Waterstones, now together under the ownership of Elliott Advisors. Online platform Bookshop.org is also in contention alongside Leicestershire-based retailer Books2Door, up for the award for the first time in its 17-year history, and awards veteran W H Smith.

Bookshop closures and the absence of events made it another tough year for publishers’ marketing teams, with all planning and execution moved online in the first quarter of 2021. While real-world opportunities emerged as the year went on, it was still a challenge to connect with retailers and buyers. The Marketing Strategy of the Year recognised everything from Faber’s push for Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You to Edinburgh-based indie 404Ink’s work on the Inklings series of short books.