Blog: 1st January 2022: BBE BOOK AWARDS 2021 Winners Announcements by Laura Lyndhurst

So here we are, the New Year is here, 2021 is over and 2022 has opened to fireworks, Covid and unfurled paper whistles. It’s time to leave behind and begin afresh. For Best Book Editors this means Sooz the Boss leaving behind Covid, which unfairly chose to target them on Christmas Day. Santa brought some women perfume, others jewellery—he brought Sooz a beautifully wrapped haze of Covid. Really bad luck–or was it? Conspiracy theorists might decide that someone lower down the hierarchy at BBE was out to make a power-grab, a takeover bid, and obviously that couldn’t be me as Jo Hanna is still in place doing a sterling job of running the Facebook group as usual, and especially well while Sooz has been out of it.

Me? Of course not, although if I’d started reading Sean Armstrong’s The Green Girl and the Serum a few weeks ago then I might have thought of it. Great timing has never been my forte. Personally, from how hard I’ve witnessed Sooz working, I think that someone Up There decided that the only way to make her take a break was to hit her with something heavy, and Covid’s nothing if not heavy.

But I digress. A fast recovery to Sooz and, Sooz’s hubby Mark, who valiantly caught the plague as well in a spirit of togetherness. And a Happy New Year to all, whatever that entails. I have my opinions on the matter, and you may be sure will be airing them in my next blog. For now, though, I’m going to hand over to our still-standing-if-rather-battered leader Sooz for the results of the Best Book Editors Awards 2021.

The voting closed at midnight on Thursday 30^th December for the Best Book Editors: Book Cover of the Year Award and the BBE Best Book Trailer 2021 Awards, both of which were open to all BBE Facebook Group members. Just to recap, here are the finalists.

Book of the Year Award 2021 finalists:

Fair Play by Grace Grahme

Why Good Men Kill by James Lilley

Trafficking Innocence by Nalani Titcomb.

Before the Storm by R.G. Roberts

Waking Up Rich by James Robb

Chicken Livers and Artichokes by Pina Bird

Bound by Oath and Heart by Jenna O’Malley

Book Cover of the Year 2021 finalists:

The Green Girl and the Serum by S.T.L Armstrong

Stone Soul by P J Merrigan

The Dreaming by Amanda Sheridan

Consequences of Crime, Greed and Love by Barbara Mostella

Best Book Trailer 2021 finalists:

Diedre Dorsett for The Purple Moon

Jenna O’Malley for Bound by Fate and Blood

Rapid Eye Movement by Amanda Sheridan

Peter J Merrigan for The Camel Trail

Brigitte-Morse-Starkenburg for The Sensorians: Awakening

Onia Fox for Listless in Turkey

And finally we have the category judged by the BBE team:

The judging was tough, and you could have got cigarette paper between them, but the final decision had to be made, and the winners are, with a fanfare of trumpets but no BBC-style silly long pause before telling you:

Book of the Year Award 2021:

Jenna O’Malley for Bound by Oath and Heart: Arsinoëphorus Alliance (Book 2)

Book Cover of the Year 2021:

Amanda Sheridan for The Dreaming

Best Book Trailer 2021:

Onia Fox for Listless in Turkey

https://youtu.be/wvcUvuGrZ4g

Editor’s Choice Award:

Peter J Merrigan for the Ailigh Wars Saga

Congratulations to those who won, you’ll get a badge announcing the fact to use on your marketing. The runners-up won’t do too bad either, and have a similar sticker announcing them as Finalists.

It only remains to wish all BBE clients, Facebook group members and staff a very Happy New Year; may it be Covid free (Sooz, Mark and PJ please take note) and better for us all.

See you at the next blog (if I’m allowed to write any more, I will be, won’t I, Sooz? Please? —Whatever!).

Sooz

Yeah, whatever. 😊 I tell you, getting a smile out of this fizzogg today would take some doing—but Laura just did. Without her we may have had to put the awards back, thank you. And as always thanks to Jo Hanna for keeping the group running so smoothly.

This is the first year we have run the awards. However, the company is growing, our reputation is building—and yes, although we’ve never had a single negative review yet (it’ll come, can’t please all of the people all of the time) we have had one or two—let’s call them artistic differences. We work hard to provide an excellent service and overall our customers are delighted and come back for more. This year the BBE Awards are a daft little game to give a few people a badge to use for their marketing.

Our vision is that as it, you and we build, it will come to mean something and will indeed be an accolade that people would like to be awarded.

We don’t insult your intelligence, it’s a marketing tool for you and for the company. It carries no weight this year and is a bit of fun. It was born during five-in-the-morning insomnia induced delirium and was badly cobbled together. But every book we edit or market, every cover we design, every trailer we produce—and from next year, every illustration we create, gains automatic entry into the awards to be presented to the judges (the BBE Staff) to be shortlisted. Apart from the Editor’s Choice category—decided by all the editors over the year’s submissions—I take no part in the judging. Maybe in ten years’ time we’ll be able to afford celebrity judges—I bet old Katie Price will be up for it, she’ll agree to anything. I live five minutes away from The Priory, I’ll take to stalking the entrance for Z-listers coming out of rehab.

In 2022 the cut off date for entries will be 1^st December 2022. When judging for shortlist and finalist places will be decided. December commissions will carry over to 2023. Cover trailer and illustration awards will be put to public vote again—but with a proper poll and a more organised system in place—more time would be good.

And in the meantime, we are open for business. Please have a look at the list of services we offer. You can book a place for any date throughout the year. Pencilled places are not hard bookings and can be moved in either direction as your targets are reached.

We’ve had our ups and downs, but 2021 has been a good year for BBE. We have edited 68 full novels of over 55,000 words, 17 of them twice when the client has taken out a half-price second pass after their final edit. As we move into our third year of trading, we look forward to serving you.

If anybody would like to volunteer to help Jo Hanna run the BBE Group it would be greatly appreciated—it doesn’t pay anything, but authors will be given free marketing and promotions.

And that’s it from me and the dream team.

Happy New Year to all—and to all a very good night.