The Bookseller to run 'unified' awards at BA Conference
18.09.09 - The Bookseller

The Bookseller has signed a licensing agreement for the British Book Industry Awards and intends to merge the awards with its own Retail Awards. A unified awards that will recognise retailers, publishers and all sides of the business will now take place during the annual Book Industry Conference. The next conference will take place in May next year.

The announcement was made this evening at the fifth annual Bookseller Retail Awards, in conjunction with The Booksellers Association and PN Holdings Ltd, which currently runs the British Book Industry Awards a.k.a. the 'Trade Nibbies'.
Alan Staton, head or marketing at the BA, said: "We are delighted the awards will now take place during the Book Industry Conference, organised by the BA. It is the major event in the UK book industry and is the natural home for the new awards. We're confident that by building on the combined strengths of three independently strong and popular industry brands, the overall impact is maximised."
Nigel Roby, managing director of The Bookseller, said: “We are very grateful to Mark Newman, son of the late Fred, for facilitating this and we are delighted that Jo Henry, managing director of Publishing News Ltd, will be working with The Bookseller to help us bring the Trade Nibbies into The Bookseller fold. We are thrilled to be working with the Booksellers Association to put the awards and the conference together and make it a truly memorable annual occasion for the trade.”
In future, a single award ceremony will take place on the middle night of the two-day Booksellers Association Book Industry Conference. The joint PA/BA Conference Working Party will be meeting shortly to devise the business programme for 2010, which takes place in London on May 17th and 18th.
The two-day programme will be put together by a BA/PA Working Party, under the chairmanship of new president of the Booksellers Association, Sharon Murray [Hammicks]. The conference will be preceded by an Independent Booksellers Forum on Sunday May 16th, 2010.