The British Book Awards 2024 opens for entries

The British Book Awards 2024 is now open for entries. The ceremony, known affectionately across the trade as the Nibbies, is a celebration of the books that have made waves in 2023 and the teams behind the scenes who have brought those books to readers. It is a showcase of the ingenuity, creativity and skill on display within the book trade and a focal point in the literary calendar for readers whose love of books extends to a fascination with how those books are made and sold. This year’s ceremony will be held on 13th May 2024.

The 2023 show attracted one of the largest audiences in its recent history, with more than 1,000 in-person attendees, thousands more joining online and across the regional parties held in Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh, and its greatest ever social media reach of 150 million views across its two hashtags. Among the big winners of the year were Davina McCall and co-author Dr Naomi Potter, writer Bonnie Garmus, debut author Louise Kennedy, publisher Simon & Schuster, and independent bookshops Griffin Books, based in Penarth, Wales, and Brixton’s Roundtable Books. Winners were featured across local and national media, including BBC News, Stylist, Good Housekeeping and the Evening Standard.

The submissions deadline is 5 p.m. on 1st February, with this year’s criteria available on thebookseller.com/british-book-awards where entries can also be uploaded.

Last year’s winners expressed their delight at being recipients in 2023. Author Janice Hallett said: "When The Twyford Code won Crime Book of the Year in 2023 I was overwhelmed with sheer honour. It was a truly magical moment and such a career high I haven’t come down yet." Rachel Denwood, m.d. of Simon & Schuster Children’s, called its win a "defining moment, bringing us even closer together as a team and with our incredible authors and illustrators". Mel Griffin, owner of Griffin Books, said: "We’re a small bookshop with a passionate and committed team, always seeking to extend our reach, so it was amazing to have our work recognised in this way." Nicola Ramsey m.d. of Edinburgh University Press, described it as "such a boost to our confidence, and it has been tremendous for our profile". For Transworld’s Alison Barrow, who led the publicity team behind Lessons in Chemistry which picked up three awards, the win in the publicity category was "like electricity; a huge honour".

Book of the Year awards to be presented at the 2024 ceremony include Fiction, Début Fiction, Non-fiction: Lifestyle, Non-fiction: Narrative, Crime & Thriller, Children’s Non-Fiction, Fiction and Illustrated, and an overall Book of the Year. There will also be awards for Author of the Year and Illustrator of the Year, won last year by Bonnie Garmus and Alice Oseman respectively. The ceremony also includes a Discover award Book of the Year, for underrepresented writers, and Pageturner, for popular fiction published in any format with a particular emphasis on titles from romance, horror and science fiction and fantasy writers.

Book Trade awards include the highly coveted Publisher of the Year, won in 2023 for a second consecutive year by Simon & Schuster; Book Retailer, won last year by W H Smith Travel; Children’s Publisher of the Year, last won by Simon & Schuster Children’s; and Independent Publisher, won by Oneworld in 2023. There are also awards for agents, rights professionals, editors, designers, imprints, marketing professionals and publicists. The Individual Bookseller of the Year award, recognising the vital role booksellers continue to play in the sector, returns again in 2024, having been won last time around by Afrori Books founder Carolynn Bain.

Independent Bookshop and Small Press awards are also open for entries, with the regional and country finalists to be announced on 21st February and 22nd February respectively, ahead of the winners for these areas, which comprise the shortlists for the overall awards, in March. The overall winners for these awards will be announced at the May event, and also go on to contest the Book Retailer of the Year and Independent Publisher of the Year awards.

Chair of the judges will once again be Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller, with books editor Alice O’Keeffe to preside over the book awards. The shortlists will be announced on Friday 8th March.

This year’s British Book Awards team is joined by Niamh Murray, former campaigns director at Profile now freelance marketeer, who will be working alongside The Bookseller’s marketing consultant Miriam Robinson, and freelance project managers Laura Mell and Robyn Donaldson. In addition award-winning literary PR company FMcM will amplify the Book of the Year winners, and selected trade winners.

Jones said: "At a time when the very question of what it means for people to tell stories, and of who – or what – has license to make things, the Nibbies is shining a light on the uniquely human quality at the core of storytelling. Ours is an industry deeply rooted in creativity, collaboration and community – it is those qualities which define who we are in today’s shifting landscape, and it is those qualities on which we’ll focus at this year’s Nibbies.’

The British Book Awards were first launched by Publishing News in 1990. Now run by The Bookseller, past winners have included Michelle Obama, Salman Rushdie, Alex George, Marcus Rashford, Marian Keyes, Sheena Patel and Sally Rooney.