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The British Book Awards 2025 Small Press of the Year regional and country winners unveiled
From small presses established in the 1980s to publishers launched after the pandemic, 10 small presses have been crowned regional and country winners of The British Book Awards’ 2025 Small Press of the Year.
The overall regional and country winner of the Small Press of the Year award will be revealed during The British Book Awards ceremony at Grosvenor House on Monday, 12th May 2025, and go on to compete to be named Independent Publisher of the Year.
Selected by the judges from 46 finalists announced last month, the CPI Books-sponsored award celebrates the independent presses committed to driving diversity in publishing, including establishing writers from working-class backgrounds, celebrating British South Asian writers and making children’s books more accessible.
The winner of the Overall Small Press Award in 2021, Sweet Cherry Publishing – which is on a mission to break down barriers surrounding children’s publishing – has won the Midlands regional award once more, while two creative presses have successfully reclaimed their crowns, with radical female-owned press 404 Ink and literary publisher Banshee Press winning the Scotland and Island of Ireland country awards respectively for a second year in a row. In addition, Bad Betty Press was Highly Commended in the Midlands region.
Joint winners in the North England region are Dead Ink Books and Bluemoose Books, both of which have had award-winning and commercial success with their titles. The Liverpudlian press, Dead Ink, saw Adam Leslie’s Lost in the Garden win the 2024 Nero Book for Fiction, while Bluemoose Books has seen its titles converted to the screen, with two books currently being adapted for film and TV, all while prioritising working-class authors.
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Harpenden’s VERVE Books similarly continues its award-winning and commercial success by taking home the East England win, with debuts Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison appearing in Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List and Human, Animal by Seth Insua being a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick.
The Isle of Wight’s Author In Me – committed to improving diversity in publishing with a particular focus on the British South Asian community – scoops the South-East England award for the first time. As well as their publishing strategy, the Author in Me team curates the AIM Literary Festival, a week-long celebration of literature that promotes South Asian stories, global storytellers and emerging young authors.
Meanwhile, Bedford Square Publishers converted its multiple finalist shortlists to become the London winner for the first time. Created and based in Bloomsbury, the publisher continues the great literary tradition in the streets of Bedford Square, publishing a range of fiction and non-fiction.
The South-West England award goes to Bath’s family-run From You To Me, which has a focus on designing, selling and marketing unique, memorable and award-winning gift products, while the Welsh winner, Seren Books, is the oldest press on the list, having specialised in English-language writing from Wales for more than 40 years.
Since its conception in 1981, Seren has published a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, with 2024 seeing the publication of Stereophonics star Jamie Morrison’s debut, Wonderboy: and The Life & Times of Drewford Alabama.
Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of The British Book Awards, said: “These 10 Small Press winners, ranging from new players Bedford Square and VERVE Books to established publishers Seren Books and Bluemoose Books, are at the heart of today’s re-shaped publishing business. Regional but with a national focus, commercial yet value-led, intentional but flexible, these businesses do the hard-yards on behalf of their writers, while building brands and recruiting readers for the future.”
