The London Book Fair International Book Industry Excellence Awards have been announced with US and Indian publishing industries leading the shortlists with four nominations apiece, with China and Korea not far behind with three each.
Shortlists for this year's inaugural Awards, which are held in association with The UK Publishers Association (The PA), showcase the best international companies and individuals from across the publishing industry that will compete for 16 prestigious awards.
In the hotly anticipated Crossmedia for best use of IP category, Angry Birds (Rovio, Finland) takes on The Walking Dead (Skybound, US), alongside nominees from Australia and the US. However, it is an all-European battle for International Literary Agent with agents from France, Denmark and Germany all vying for the accolade.
The Awards will include the long-running IPA Freedom to Publish Award. Six publishers have been short-listed for the 2014 IPA Freedom to Publish Prize, which honours a person or an organisation that has made a notable contribution to the defence and promotion of freedom to publish.
The winners of a number of other Awards will also be announced on the night including: The Publishing for Digital Minds Innovation Award; The Publishers Association Copyright Protection Award; and Digital Publishing Entrepreneur of the Year.
The London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Deborah Rogers of Rogers, Coleridge and White.
The Awards which celebrate international excellence in the book industry, cover all aspects of the business of international publishing, including academic publishing, the supply chain, education, children's publishing and digital innovation. A panel of UK judges, with international or discipline-specific expertise, have judged the individual award categories.
The London Book Fair International Book Industry Excellence Awards will be an invite-only evening event, and will take place on April 8, the first day of LBF 2014. The Awards Ceremony will be held at 6.00pm in The Conference Centre, Earls Court, London.
