The Voice to Parliament Handbook wins ABIA book of the year
The winners of the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced, with The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore) taking out the overall book of the year award, as well as winning in both the general nonfiction book of the year and social impact book of the year categories.
In the business awards, Penguin Random House was named publisher of the year, while Magabala won the small publisher of the year award. In retailing, Fullers Bookshop in Tasmania won the bookshop of the year award.
In the two newest award categories (introduced in 2023), HarperCollins’s Catherine Milne won commissioning editor of the year, and The Bookbinder of Jericho (Pip Williams, Affirm) took out the marketing strategy award; the latter also won in the general fiction book of the year category.
The ABIA winners—in the hall of fame, book and business categories—are:
Hall of fame awards
Lloyd O’Neil Award
- Fiona Stager
Pixie O’Harris Award
- Jane Godwin
Book awards
Book of the year
- The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore)
Audiobook of the year
- The Teacher’s Pet (written and narrated by Hedley Thomas, Macmillan Australia Audio)
Biography book of the year
- Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s invisible life (Anna Funder, Hamish Hamilton)
Book of the year for older children (ages 13+)
- Welcome to Sex (Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, illus by Jenny Latham, HGCP)
Book of the year for younger children (ages 7–12)
- It’s the Sound of the Thing (Maxine Beneba Clarke, HGCP Older Readers)
Children’s picture book of the year (ages 0–6)
- A Life Song (Jane Godwin, illus by Anna Walker, Puffin)
General fiction book of the year
- The Bookbinder of Jericho (Pip Williams, Affirm)
General nonfiction book of the year
- The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore)
Illustrated book of the year
- Australian Abstract (Amber Creswell Bell, T&H)
International book of the year
- Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros, Piatkus)
Literary fiction book of the year
- Lola in the Mirror (Trent Dalton, Fourth Estate)
Small publishers’ adult book of the year
- Edenglassie (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)
Small publishers’ children’s book of the year
- Artichoke to Zucchini: An alphabet of delicious things from around the world (Alice Oehr, Scribble)
Social impact book of the year
- The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore)
The Matt Richell award for new writer of the year
- Green Dot (Madeleine Gray, A&U)
Business Awards
Commissioning editor award
- Catherine Milne (HarperCollins)
Marketing strategy award
- The Bookbinder of Jericho (Pip Williams, Affirm)
Bookshop of the year
- Fullers Bookshop (Tas)
Small publisher of the year
- Magabala Books
Publisher of the year
- Penguin Random House Australia.
Chosen by ‘an experienced cohort of highly respected publishers, booksellers, agents and media and industry representatives’, the winners were announced at the ABIA awards ceremony in Melbourne on Thursday 9 May.
Said the Australian Publishers Association CEO Michael Gordon-Smith of the awards: ‘In a year when the rights and freedoms of many of our fellow humans around the world have been misrepresented and vilified, the need for accessible, clear and trusted information has never been more pronounced. The winners of this year’s awards stand as a poignant reminder of how books and reading significantly enrich our society.’
The winner of last year’s ABIA book of the year was RecipeTin Eats: Dinner by Nagi Maehashi (Macmillan).
Category: Awards Local news
