Booksellers Aotearoa NZ and Publishers Aotearoa NZ proudly present the 2025 Book Industry Awards.
You’re invited to join us under the Auckland night sky in Auckland University of Technology’s Atrium in Building WG at 35 Mayoral Drive for a night of glamour, excellence, camaraderie and star power. Emceed by Mike McRoberts and with some stellar – and fun – surprises, the evening promises to be unforgettable.
The coveted award of Bookshop of the Year has a new sponsor, a small publisher whose recognition of excellence and hard work in bookselling is borne from her own experience running a bookshop; a publisher whose celebration of the people and businesses selling books is celebrated in their excellent 2024 title, BOLD TYPES. Kia ora and welcome to Ugly Hill Press, proud sponsor of the 2025 Bookshop of the Year Award.
Our Judges this year are Anna Burkey (Australia Reads) and Steve Braunias who will be joined by a Anita Kingston, last year’s winner of the Book Retailer of the Year award in judging the Publisher awards, and Kevin Chapman (Upstart press) in judging the bookseller awards.
The awards are open to anyone in the industry. Eligibility is not based on how many books you sell, nor how many books you publish, it is not your size or age or back catalogue that matters: eligibility to these awards is determined by your excellence, consistency and commitment to your work. Your mahi is at the bedrock of this industry from which we grow and change, persevere and create. If you’ve done good work, celebrate it.
The Book Industry Awards not only recognise excellence in our industry, but they encourage excellence too. They reward and amplify hard work and they can guide us forward to greater achievements. Through the awards we reflect on the past, awarding life time’s of achievements as well as one’s in the year past; and we can shape the future. In the words of Phillip Jones: ‘In a world that feels a little topsy-turvy, the choices we make and the moments we create can be the tilt in the other direction that we need to see’. The awards are one of those important moments we create.
This year we have simplified the entry forms to keep the nomination process as simple as possible and encourage you to enter.
Awards presented on the night
Ugly Hill Press Bookshop of the Year
Nielsen BookData NZ Publisher of the year
Publishing Trailblazer of the year
Titlepage Bookselling Trailblazer of the year
PANZ Lifetime Achievement Award
Booksellers Lifetime Achievement Award
Marketing & Publicity Campaign of the Year
Sales Professional of the Year
Libro.fm Audio Book of the Year
Nielsen BookData Bestselling NZ Book of the year
Hayden + Rollett Booksellers Choice Children’s Book Award
Booksellers Choice Award
Click here for entry forms and entry criteria.
The event will be held on Saturday 19 July, 6pm at Auckland University of Technology.
Tickets are $150 per person and can be booked here. The Dress Code is starlight, starbright.
The awards could not happen without special thanks to our sponsors who so clearly support and recognise excellence in their own business and the wider industry:
Principal Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
