06/07/2021
UQP was awarded Small Publisher of the Year at the 2021 ABIA Ceremony.
UQP (University of Queensland Press) was delighted to be awarded the Small Publisher of the Year at the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards in April. The judges chose this press, established in 1948, due to its culturally significant list across genres, and also for its new initiatives launched in 2020.
The APA invited UQP to share more on their initiatives, with an overview of these below.
Approach
Director Ben James says, "Two years ago we completed a major strategic review and produced a long-term plan to build success. Our authors and staff are at the centre of everything we do. We are defining new pathways to build diversity in our authorship, readership, and workplace. We champion our First Nations authors. We have built a culture that encourages innovation, creativity, and imagination."
"We also collaborate passionately with a range of partners to further opportunities for creative experimentation,’ says Ben. ‘Our staff very deliberately connect with people who explicitly share our values for diversity, sustainability and accessibility."
Innovation and Marketing
Innovation at UQP extends to their marketing and publicity team. "2020 was an exceptional year for UQP," says Marketing and Publicity Manager Louise Cornegé. "Not only did we have to master working from home and scramble to move author events online, but we were also rolling out a brand-new digital strategy for UQP just as we went into lockdown. This included a new industry-leading website that puts our authors at the forefront of all we do, as well as a UQP membership drive that generated 1,200 sign-ups in its first few months."
"Last year we invested heavily in our marketing and publicity division and as a result saw the value of the media coverage that we achieved increase over 100% from the previous year. Our following on Instagram did the same," Cornegé says.
UQP’s new digital offering also included a podcast series called Extraordinary Voices for Extraordinary Times, supported by the Copyright Agency. Hosted by award-winning poets Ellen van Neerven and Omar Sakr, the podcast gave other diverse poets the opportunity to share new work responding to the extraordinary year of 2020. This gave local poets both a platform and some additional income at a time when many paid opportunities for authors disappeared.
First Nations people voices
UQP proudly established the David Unaipon Award in the late 1980s, an award that has launched the careers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors including Samuel Wagan Watson, Larissa Behrendt, Tara June Winch and Ellen van Neerven.
In 2020 UQP implemented its Indigenous Placement Program, providing a career pathway into publishing for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander undergraduate via a twelve-month position in the Marketing and Publicity team. They also partnered with Vision Australia to welcome an intern to work across editorial and marketing for three months.
Other awards and programs
2020 also saw the launch of the UQP Quentin Bryce Award which recognises a UQP book that celebrates women’s lives or promotes gender diversity. The inaugural winner was Ellen van Neerven’s second poetry collection Throat and in July UQP held a livestreamed event with Ellen and Dame Quentin Bryce that was facilitated by Associate Professor Sandra Phillips and generated over 2,000 views on YouTube.
Other initiatives included the launch of the UQP Sustainability Committee, a UQP Writing Mentorship and a new online book club.
Love to bookshops
"It was incredibly important to us that we promoted Australia’s vibrant bookselling community last year too,’ says Cornegé. "They are the lifeblood of our industry and our conduit to readers. We actively promoted all their wonderful initiatives across our own channels, plus we donated books to our local bookshops Riverbend, for their kindness campaign, and Avid Reader, for the Brisbane Domestic Violence Service. At the end of 2020, when we were finally able to meet in person again, we hosted our first ever Brisbane roadshow, bringing together Queensland booksellers, media and literary organisations, to celebrate them and their achievements, and to plan for the next year ahead."
Wins
On top of all this UQP’s publishing list achieved significant national acclaim in 2020 with wins in the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the Australian Scholarly Non-Fiction Book of the Year, the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Younger Readers, the Readings Adult Book Prize, the ARA Historical Novel Prize, the NSW Premier’s Prize for Indigenous Writing, and four categories in the Queensland Literary Awards. The Trespassers by Meg Mundell was selected by the UNESCO Cities of Literature as one of seven initial books that reflect the United Nations sustainable development goals, a compact that UQP signed in 2021. UQP books received another 29 shortlistings last year, including the Miles Franklin Literary Award for Tony Birch’s bestselling The White Girl.
Acquisitions
Madonna Duffy, UQP’s Publishing Director says, ‘Despite the disruptions of the pandemic, 2020 was very exciting for our authors. Their awards success is a wonderful reflection on our publishing team’s ability to discover and publish talented Australian authors with diverse voices and stories. We acquired new books by emerging authors such as SBS journalist Sarah Malik, lawyer and human rights advocate Nyadol Nyuon and trans cross-disciplinary artist SJ Norman. We also continued long and successful publishing relationships with First Nations writers Larissa Behrendt and Tony Birch and signed first books by Adam Thompson and Evelyn Araluen.
Final remarks
"Our ABIA win this year is a testament to our wonderful staff and to our talented authors,’ says UQP Director Ben James. "Our people and organisational partners enable us to celebrate our stories on an Australian and global stage; together we will continue to prioritise great books and pursue diversity within our list, our staff and amongst our readers."
Learn more
Find out more about UQP on their website, and learn more about UQP's recent initiatives with the following articles: