Rights Professional of the Year


WINNER


ANDREW SHARP, HACHETTE CHILDREN’S GROUP


After four appearances on the shortlist for this award it is fifth time lucky for Andrew Sharp, group rights director at the powerhouse of children’s publishing at Hachette. It also caps a rise through the ranks for Sharp, who joined Hodder


Children’s Books as a rights executive in the late 1990s. His remit has grown massively since then, now taking in nine major imprints and the huge Enid Blyton estate. Across the board in 2018, his team sealed more than 800 deals, notched up three million coedition sales, and served around 1,400 publishing partners. Much of his work now is strategic, including on the streamlining of


rights workflows and systems, the management of a multilingual team and collaboration with other parts of Hachette's global empire. But he stays close to the ground too, ensuring each author and brand gets a distinct rights strategy, and handles many markets himself. “Andrew is a consummate professional with a true passion for children’s books,” said one overseas editor. Beyond the business of rights, Sharp has been a prominent advocate


for diversity, both within Hachette and in children’s publishing in general. He walks the walk too, having set up a new imprint of his own for Arabic picture books in English called The Big Wish, with revenue going to support access to books for children in refugee camps—and he’s drawing on fluency in several languages to handle the translations himself. "Keeping so many balls in the air in Hachette’s rights is no mean


feat… Andrew’s done a brilliant job in bringing everything together in a coherent way,” said the judges. “What he’s doing to promote diversity is excellent.”


SHORTLIST


CAMILLA FERRIER, THE MARSH AGENCY The sole agency-based rights pro on the list, having some big overseas deals for Stuart Turton and others


AMY JOYNER, KOGAN PAGE Single-handedly transformed her professional publisher’s rights in 2018, and teed up a new audio division too


KRYSTYNA KUJAWINSKA, ORION PUBLISHING GROUP Scored some big translation deals and led Orion's efforts to develop the IPG


STEPHANIE PURCELL, SIMON & SCHUSTER Shortlisted for the second


THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNERS 2019


year in a row after delivering a record year of rights in adults' and children’s


MEIXIA WANG, THE QUARTO GROUP Australia-based rights pro who helped Quarto to a record year in China and to push deeper into other markets


PIPPA WRIGHT, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE Excelled in the US and serial markets, and started a new Cornerstone Creates initiative


MICHELE YOUNG, PAN MACMILLAN Winner of this award in 2016, she gave Pan Mac’s children’s division another record-breaking year


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Delivered a double-digit increase in rights deals in 2018


Superb management and integration of rights across Hachette’s many children’s lists


Wide respect of staff and publishing partners around the world


Active supporter of literacy and diversity projects


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