In Kenfig Nature Reserve at Wales’ Bridgend, home to Seren Books, the British Book Awards’ 2025 small press honor in the Welsh division. Image – Getty: Karen Gillett
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Nine Regional Winners
The British Book Awards—produced by The Bookseller led by Philip Jones and sometimes referred to as the “Nibbies”—won’t hold their winners’ ceremony until May 12, but with 18 categories in the trade wing alone, they’re out already with various wins that are announced early.
Our coverage of the program is generally limited to the trade side of the competition—not only because the United Kingdom has more book and author awards than any other market but also because our emphasis here at Publishing Perspectives is on the international book trade.
On February 27, we were glad to bring you the 46 shortlisted small independent publishers for this year’s competition, and today we have the winners in the nine geographical regions.
These winners were announced a week ago (March 10) on the eve of London Book Fair, meaning of course a delay in getting them to you as we dealt with the plethora of news released during and just before a major publishing trade show.
It’s worth pointing out that this year we saw a welcome change among many of the book and publishing contests that have, in the past, released various elements of their news during trade shows, themselves. It can be understandably hard to resist announcing juries, longlists, shortlists, and winners as a trade show or book fair grinds through its week, the thinking being that the industry gathered for the show will be especially enthralled with such information.
In truth, of course, much of this news is delayed because the book-publishing news media are unable to get to it during a show. What’s more, trade-show attendees—who are among the most valued targets of such news—generally have very little bandwidth to bring to reading such coverage until the show is over: they’re engaged with their meetings, with programming, and with ancillary events directly related show.
The more that awards work is distanced from these trade gatherings, the better chance the prize regimes have to shine in their own rights, drawing the press attention they naturally hope to deliver to their honorees without the distractions of the major trade events.
The 2025 Small Press Winners
In west Yorkshire’s Hebden Bridge, where Bluemoose Books is now in contention for the British Book Awards’ small press honor. Image – Getty: PeteJeff
In May at the main winners’ ceremony, the overall winner among the small presses will be vying for Independent Publisher—an award that also considers the Independent Publisher of the Year category.
East England
Island of Ireland
London
- Bedford Square Publishers | Bloomsbury
Midlands
- Sweet Cherry Publishing | Leicester
North England
- Bluemoose Books | Hebden Bridge
Scotland
Southeast England
- Author In Me | High Wycombe
Southwest England
Wales
More on the British Book Awards, the Nibbies, is here. More from us on publishing and book awards in general is here. More on independent and small publishing houses is here, and more on the UK book market and industry is here.
Porter Anderson is a former associate editor of The FutureBook at The Bookseller.
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