PAST WINNERS 2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
OVERVIEW
HACHETTE CHILDREN’S GROUP Hachette had arguably the most anticipated kids’ book of the year in J K Rowling’s The Ickabog, plus bestsellers from Onjali Q Raúf (right), Giles Andreae and Matthew Syed. Backlist, e-book and audio download sales all grew by double digits year on year.
MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS Pan Mac’s children’s arm rode the enduring popularity of Julia Donaldson (left), scoring 169 places in The Bookseller’s weekly charts. Pre-school and non-fiction were particularly strong, and the audio, export, coeditions and rights depart- ments had record years.
JUDGES VERDICT
SCHOLASTIC Shortlisted here for the ninth time in the past 10 years, Scholastic is a model of consist- ency in children’s publishing. It had three of 2020’s leading children’s authors in Julia Donaldson, Dav Pilkey and Liz Pichon, and a YA début hit with Kathryn Foxfield’s Good Girls Die First.
SIMON & SCHUSTER CHILDREN’S BOOKS Simon & Schuster is back on this shortlist after five years away, having lifted fiction names like Ben Miller (right) and Michelle Harrison from the midlist to the top tier. It also had its best ever year in terms of backlist sales. “An impres- sive outfit,” said one agent.
SWEET CHERRY Leicester-based Sweet Cherry is a rising star of children’s publishing. Its strengths are in licensing branded content that fuses entertainment and education, and international sales thrived in 2020. The growing popularity of Angie Lake shows it can build its own authors, too.
USBORNE Last year’s winner rolled relentlessly on, with double- digit sales growth in 2020. No fewer than 43 titles from its massive catalogue sold more than 100,000 copies, and it published some 300 new books too. Its independence and flexibility helped it adapt very nimbly to Covid disruption.
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WONDERBLY Personalised specialist Wonderbly had its best year, thanks in large part to a new title that resonated with fami- lies during lockdowns, I Love You This Much. It branched into educational publishing and TV licensing, while growing its evergreen brands and publish- ing nearly 50 translations.
HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN’S BOOKS HC responded creatively to the pandemic, making Rob Biddulph’s #DrawWithRob and #AudioElevenses with David Walliams fixtures of locked- down days. Walliams topped the children’s chart 35 times, while Dr Seuss and Mog stood out in its powerful backlist.
NOSY CROW Nosy Crow, the 2017 and 2019 winner in this category, as well as the 2020 Independent Publisher of the Year Nibbie recipient, has doubled in size in the past three years alone. Its growth in international markets—from which three- quarters of its sales now come—was remarkable.
2015
LIZ PICHON POSTED IMPRESSIVE SALES ONCE AGAIN FOR HER PUBLISHER SCHOLASTIC
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