PAST WINNERS 2020


Rebecca Folland Hachette


2019


Andrew Sharp 


2018


Karine Marko The Quarto Group


2017


Kate Hibbert Little, Brown


2016


Michele Young Pan Macmillan


RIGHTS PROFESSIONAL AND RIGHTS TEAM OF THE YEAR CAROLINE CLARKE & NOSY CROW


THE SHORTLIST


Thérèse Coen HARDMAN & SWAINSON


Cathryn Gregory PAN MACMILLAN


Simon & Schuster Rights Team


Emma Thawley HACHETTE


PROFESSIONAL TEAM R


ights Professional of the Year judges were unable to split this year’s two top contenders, so the award is shared between an individual and a team.


Caroline Clarke above was instrumental in


the superb 2020 performance of Independent Publisher of the Year Canongate. She and her two rights colleagues scored nearly 200 deals—includ- ing dozens for the phenomenally popular Matt Haig—and grew revenues by a third. Backlist and audio contracts increased sharply, and she nurtured partnerships in underexploited territo- ries across Asia, the Arab World and Scandinavia. Like all rights professionals, Clarke had to


adapt to a new world of rights trading, digitising processes and finding ways to bolster online pitches. Judges liked her involvement in every aspect of rights, and her work beyond the day job, including support of aspiring publishers and co-creation of Canongate’s Nan Shepherd Prize.


23


“Caroline stepped up in difficult circumstances and delivered an amazing performance… she goes above and beyond,” said the judges. The Nosy Crow rights team of Michela Pea


pictured, Erin Murgatroyd, Núria Martí Pampalona and Lucy Dunnet are recognised after another stellar year of international trading. Between them they generated more than half of the publisher’s turnover, increased sales by 50%, and doubled them in Asia. A Covid strategy of focusing on core customers, coedition deals and backlist reaped rewards, though it established several dozen new partnerships too. “Nosy Crow is a rights machine,” said the judges. “It was a real team effort—they were laser-like in their focus and showed that rights is as much about listening to customers as pitching to them.” They also noted that part of this award belongs to Nosy Crow rights manager Ola Gotkowska, who was diagnosed with MND in 2018.


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