Bestselling American author James Patterson has given the Young Bookseller Special Achievement Award to 20 booksellers for their "outstanding" work. Patterson announced the award in March to bring attention to book stores and to encourage people in the industry, The Bookseller reported.
Patterson and the Booksellers Association (BA) had collaborated for the awards which are given to young booksellers under 25 years of age, who have worked in a bookstore for at least a year. They were nominated by their colleagues from bookshops across Britain and Ireland. Each winner of the Young Bookseller Special Achievement Award will be given a prize of £500.
Commenting on the development, Patterson said, according to The Bookseller, “I am delighted for the twenty winners who were chosen for their talent and extraordinary contribution to the bookselling industry. The passion and energy of all the young booksellers that were nominated have been overwhelming.”
The Young Bookseller Special Achievement Award is one of the latest financial donations made by Patterson in support of bookshops. The author has donated roughly £500,000 to independent bookstores in Britain and Ireland in the last five years to promote children to read more books.
Some of the booksellers who won the Young Bookseller Special Achievement Award are: Amy Vale from Book-ish, Charlotte Elizabeth from Blackwell’s Bookshops, Tom McKnight from The Haslemere Bookshop, and Callum Churchill from Toppng & Company.
Nic Bottomley, President - Booksellers Association, said, according to The Bookseller, “The BA is in the business of celebrating and improving bookselling, and I can think of no better way to do both those things than to award outstanding young booksellers in this way. James Patterson’s generosity and vision in deciding to reward our rising young stars in the bookselling landscape is a wonderful way for us to celebrate our emerging leaders and watch their careers develop.”
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