This year’s awards, which are organised by the BPIF and supported by Oxford Brookes University, The Bookseller and The Publishers Association received more than 500 entries.
The big winner on the night was Bloomsbury Publishing, which won the Lifestyle Illustrated, Children’s Trade and Book of the Year awards.
While many of the 18-award winning books were produced overseas, the UK was well represented in the shortlists and Pureprint secured the Exhibitions Catalogue category for Jenny Saville: Oxyrhynchus and Generation Press won Digitally Printed books for Formation.
Jarrold heaped special praise on the Best Student Book category, which was won by Thomas Lynes of Norwich University of the Arts.
“The quality of the student entries was superb, and their passion for the industry is clear,” he said.
Another three of the category winning books were also produced in the UK: Limited Edition and Fine Binding winner Mr Kilburn’s Calicos was produced by The Fleece Press and Northend Creative Print Solutions; Self-published Books winner The Little Boy/Girl Who Lost His/Her Name is printed by Charlesworth Press and Pureprint; and Best British Book Jon Bannenberg – A Life of Design was also printed by Pureprint.
Jarrold used the event to remind the audience that the UK book-printing sector is worth an estimated £1.9bn – a level that has not been reached since 1996 – and has grown 60% in the past eight years.
He used his opening address at last Thursday’s ceremony (26 November) to praise the thriving book sector at home and abroad.
“The awards acknowledge those in the industry that continue to innovate, pushing boundaries, and embracing new technologies and sometimes taking risks to drive the industry forward.”
He also highlighted the “renaissance” that has occurred in the book industry partly driven by the industry’s ability to produce shorter runs, offering publishers more flexibility and enabling them to better respond to the market.
He added that the book production industry’s adoption of new technology, along with publishers identifying new routes to market has helped ensure that physical book sales continue to outstrip those of e-books.
