The adult fiction category was won by Shooters by Julia Boggio, “a fun and enjoyable read, which kept its pace and interest to the end”, said the judges, agent Sophie Hicks, author and publisher Toby Faber and NielsenBook data analyst Chris White. They continued: “the book fitted perfectly within its romantic comedy genre”, while offering an excellent marketing campaign that leveraged the author’s connections effectively.
The children’s book category winner was Extraordinary Extinct Prehistoric Minibeasts: A First Guide to Fossils by author/illustrator duo Jill Michelle Smith and Jennifer Watson. The judges – Gareth Rapley of the London Book Fair, lecturer and ex-publisher Clare Somerville and children’s book blogger Hannah Millington – praised the book for its “fun content…that engages kids in the natural world” and its “excellent marketing tools” that had resulted in the book being stocked in Waterstones, with the authors doing radio shows and school and museum visits.
Two titles were highly recommended in the children’s book category, The Witch’s Cat and the Trouble with Tidying Up by Kirstie Watson praised as “very well written…[with] a lot of surprising elements to keep the reader entertained” and Secrets at No. 6 by Jemma Hatt which appealed to the judges for its “fast-paced narrative with accessible social history angle and an appealing feisty heroine”, as well as a strong marketing campaign.
The winner in the general non-fiction category was Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways by J.F. Penn, a book which the judges – publisher Clare Harington, PR agent Helen Lewis and IngramSpark development manager Ben Hughes – said was “beautifully produced”, “well written and very engaging”, with a “mixture of the personal, practical and philosophical”.
A special commendation in the non-fiction category went to The Book. The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding a Civilisation by Vsevolod Batischev, a “steampunk handbook for the future [that was] witty, weird and wonderful”. The book has raised an impressive amount of money on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, and had sold incredibly well.
The 2024 ceremony was held in Author HQ at The London Book Fair on 12th March. Winners and runners-up from let to right: Jill Michelle Smith and Jennifer Watson, Kirstie Watson, J.F. Penn, a colleague of author Vsevolod Batischev and Julia Boggio.