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This year's FutureBook Innovation Awards will be bigger than ever, with new categories reflecting the changing landscape of digital publishing.
Entries for the awards are now open, with awards for best digital books in fiction, non-fiction and children's, as well as best use of digital in a marketing campaign and best start-up. Two separate awards will now cover websites, with an award for best publisher website, and a separate award for best consumer-facing website. There will also be awards for best technology innovation, sponsored by ePubDirect, and most inspiring digital person, sponsored by the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The shortlists for the awards will be unveiled at Frankfurt in October, while the winners will be announced at The Bookseller's FutureBook Conference 2014, held at Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in London on 14th November 2014.
Now in its fourth year, the conference will see more than 700 attendees and 40 speakers involved in key notes and panel sessions, as part of the biggest digital publishing conference in Europe. Last year saw HarperCollins UK c.e.o. Charlie Redmayne urging publishers to embrace change, while The Book People c.e.o. Seni Glaister encouraged the Government to act on Amazon's dominance of the e-book market.
Submissions are also open for the Big Ideas session, which last year saw industry leaders pitching their own plans for innovation in the trade. One of the ideas, pitched by WME head of literary Simon Trewin, was for a hack that would bring together publishers and developers – an idea that was brought to fruition in the past year.
Alice Ryan, conference and communities manager at The Bookseller, said: “It has been an incredible year for publishing innovation. In June, FutureBook led the first industry-wide book hack in the UK, bringing together leading thinkers in publishing and developers from all over the world to re-imagine and re-invent publishing. With today’s launch of the FutureBook Innovation awards 2014, we aim to continue to recognise and reward those individuals and companies that are playing a part in driving the industry forward, working together towards one end - to get more books into the hands of more readers”
Tickets for the conference are on sale now.