The Bookseller is expanding the British Book Awards (the Nibbies) next year "by splitting the Children’s Book of the Year category in two and adding a new prize for Small Press of the Year." For 2019 there will be two children’s awards--fiction as well as illustrated & nonfiction--"reflecting the importance of children’s books to the wider market and the range of titles published each year."
The Nibbies celebrate the best books, bookshops and publishers and are supported by the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association and the Independent Publishers Guild.
"One in every three books sold in the U.K. is now a children’s book," said Fiona Noble, children’s book previewer for the Bookseller and Nibbies judge. "In the past few years the Children’s Book of the Year shortlist has become more varied... one prize no longer feels enough to showcase such a vibrant part of our industry. Nonfiction and illustrated books in particular have undergone a real renaissance, and this new prize enables us to celebrate even more outstanding publishing."
Companies with annual revenues of less than £1 million (about $1.3 million) qualify for the Small Press of the Year award. Bookseller editor Philip Jones observed that there "has been an explosion of independent publishing across the length and breadth of the U.K. and Ireland in recent years, and today there are many good and distinctive publishers establishing themselves away from the mainstream.... We are delighted to not only recognize this at the British Book Awards, but also to throw much-needed light on the many authors and books that are now in play thanks to the hard work of these publishers."