Bernardine Evaristo, Candice Carty-Williams, and Oyinkan Braithwaite were among the winners at the British Book Awards 2020 announced on June 29, 2020.
The British Book Awards or Nibbies have a long and colourful history starting with their first iteration from 1990–2009 when they were founded by founder, editor and publisher of Publishing News Fred Newman. They were then acquired by Agile Marketing who renamed it the National Book Awards. In 2017, the award was acquired by The Bookseller and renamed to the original British Book Awards or Nibbies.
In 2020, there were many awards celebrating the best in the British writing and publishing industry, providing a handy overview of what that country has been up to. Here is the full list of winners for writing, illustrating, and editing;
- Audio book: The Testaments, Margaret Atwood, Penguin Random House Audio
- Children’s Fiction Book of the Year: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson, Electric Monkey
- Children’s Nonfiction & Illustrated: The Smeds and The Smoos, Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler Alison, Green Books
- Fiction Book of the Year: Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo, Hamish Hamilton
- Fiction: Crime & Thriller Book of the Year: My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Atlantic Books
- Fiction: Début Book of the Year: Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams, Trapeze
- Nonfiction: Lifestyle: Pinch of Nom, Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone, Bluebird
- Nonfiction Narrative: Three Women, Lisa Taddeo, Bloomsbury Circus
- Illustrator of the Year: David McKee
- Editor of the Year: Carole Tonkinson
- Author of the year: Bernardine Evaristo
- Book of the Year: Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams, Trapeze
Reacting to the win, Bernardine Evaristo tweeted, “Happy to just win two awards at the British Book Awards #Nibbies: Fiction Book of the Year & Author of the Year. And there are TEN books by POC in the Top 10 charts – a 1/4 of all books! We can no longer be ignored.”
Evaristo who has been supporting other writers for years continued in the same vein saying, “..& supercongrats @CandiceC_W for her double-whammy trophy treat: British Book Award for Best Fiction Debut AND overall Book of the Year, and Oyinkan Braithwaite for her Crime & Thriller Award & @KarolinaSutton for Best Agent. Now time to partay with some bubbly with Him Indoors.”
Candice Carty-Williams on her part said, “BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 Crown And the FIRST Black AUTHOR to win it let alone Black WOMAN since the prize BEGAN in 1994? Sorry for all the caps but what are you telling meee #Nibbies”
Apart from awards around writing and producing books there were many trade awards handed out. They included Educational and Professional Publisher of the Year, Book Retailer of the Year, Children’s Bookseller of the Year, Children’s Publisher of the Year, Editor of the Year, Imprint of the Year, Independent Bookshop of the Year, Independent Publisher of the Year, Literary Agent of the Year, Marketing Strategy of the Year, Publicity Campaign of the Year, Publisher of the Year, Rights Professional of the Year, Small Press of the Year, and The British Book Award for Export. Click here for the full list of winners.
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