Penguin Random House Australia Is ‘Publisher Of The Year’
Penguin Random House Australia was named Publisher of the Year at this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards last week. It is the Australian book industry’s foremost award. At the same time, PRH author Vivian Pham was named New Writer of the Year.
The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) is one of the highlights of the book year Down Under. The awards’ most coveted category is the Publisher of the Year award. Last week, it once again went to Penguin Random House Australia. At the same time, Vivian Pham, a Penguin Random House Australia author, won the New Writer of the Year award. “Last year was extraordinarily demanding and forced everyone to re-evaluate every aspect of their business,” says Julie Burland, CEO of Penguin Random House ANZ. “It has been inspiring to see books be such a source of comfort for people in a time of great uncertainty and I have been equally moved by the commitment, passion and calm determination of everyone at PRH – the award is a well-deserved honor.”
Its current Publisher of the Year award reflects the Australian publishing group’s exceptional importance for the country’s book market. Last year, its books topped the Nielsen Bookscan bestseller list for 32 of the 52 weeks. And 35 of the books in the year’s Top 100 were published by Penguin Random House Australia: 22 by the Australian publishing group itself, and 13 by Penguin Random House’s English-language sister publishers. Early in the pandemic, Penguin Random House launched a project to ensure the availability of its own program as well as fast delivery and turnaround times. Penguin Random House Australia colleagues say the feedback from the book trade on these measures has been extremely positive, and that the publishing group is also leading in this area.
In addition to the publishing group itself, an author from its ranks was also honored at this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards: Vivian Pham received the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year for her debut book “The Coconut Children.” Earlier in the week, Pham had already won the “The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age Best Young Australian Novelist of the Year” award.
