The winners of the UK Book Blog Awards 2020, recognising the importance of social media influencers to the book world are as below:
Book Podcaster of the Year: Sentimental Garbage
With The Comma Press Podcast being highly commended by the judges
Book Vlogger of the Year Award: Leena Norms
Book Blogger of the Year: Julia’s Bookcase
Bookstagrammer of the Year: What Sally Read Next
Europe and Asia led the way in the International Excellence Awards, celebrating literary initiatives and institutions around the world. Maadi Public Library in Egypt was crowned Library of the Year, while Unity Books Auckland in New Zealand won The Bookstore of the Year Award. The Literary Translation Initiative Award went to the Yiddish Book Center in the US, and Indonesia’s Macassar International Writers’ Festival was awarded The Literary Festival Award. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Nigel Newton, Founder and Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing.
The CAMEO Awards 2020, celebrating adaptations of books to other media in the past year, were awarded as follows:
Book to Film Award: Little Women
Book to Stage Award: Life of Pi (Sheffield Theatres)
Book to TV Award: Elizabeth is Missing
Book to Audio Award: Norse Mythology (adapted by Penguin Random House)
UK BOOK BLOG AWARDS
The winners of The London Book Fair’s UK Book Blog Awards 2020 winners are:
Book Podcaster of the Year: Caroline O’Donoghue’s Sentimental Garbage
The judges said ‘Sentimental Garbage is slick, brilliantly edited and a lot of fun to listen to. Caroline created the podcast to question why chick-lit tends to be overlooked as ‘literature’… with great guests and a fantastic selection of books, it starts important conversations!’
The Comma Press Podcast was also highly commended by the judges, who added ‘This indie, literary podcast produces above its cloud. It’s only the beginning, and we are excited to hear more.’
Book Vlogger of the Year Award: Leena Norms
Judges said of Leena Norms, created by 2019 Trailblazer, Leena Normington: ‘Leena is warm, personable and engaging – a natural. Her content is refreshing and fun, and we love her authentic voice!’
Book Blogger of the Year: Julia’s Bookcase
Judges commented: ‘Julia’s Bookcase is varied, readable and thorough – centring on the reading experience. There is a fantastic range of content, including the ‘Bookshop Guides’ to different towns across the UK and tips on how to use Instagram.’
Bookstagrammer of the Year: What Sally Read Next
Judges said: ‘‘What Sally Read Next has as much style as substance. With a fantastic following and great engagement, Sally is committed to posting various types of content. Her flat lay is beautiful, with a good mix of new and old book titles, bookshops and personal pictures.’
Helen Clifford, Marketing Manager of The London Book Fair, said “We are so pleased to recognise the brilliant work being done by our winners to engage with fellow readers, promote new and forgotten books, and champion all kinds of authors. The incredible quality of the longlists really showcases the impressive range of talent and creativity to be found in the more bookish corners of social media and underlines why influencers are so key for the publishing industry.”
The judging panel, comprised of experts from across the book industry: Paul Black (Publicity Director at Andersen Press), Rosie Beaumont-Thomas (Events & Outreach Manager at Royal Society of Literature) and Shahroo Izadi (author of The Last Diet andThe Kindness Method), all of whom returned to judge the Awards for a second year.
The UK Book Blog Awards 2020 shortlist is announced as below:
