Established by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in collaboration with the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) and the International Publishers Association (IPA), the BOP – Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year acknowledges TOP children’s publishers across the world.
What makes it so special is that the prize is given by the publishers themselves who are asked to nominate those publishing houses that have stood out in terms of their creativity, innovation, and the quality of their editorial choices.
These are the 2023 BOP WINNERS:
AFRICA
For Africa, the winner is Trinta Zero Nove from Mozambique. Editora Trinta Zero Nove is the first independent publisher dedicated to publishing translated works in Mozambique. Founded in 2018 by Sandra Tamele to publish a collection of short stories translated by the winners of the Literary Translation Competition as part of International Translation Day, it has since expanded its catalogue to give a voice to minority authors. In 2021, it was ranked in the 100 best startups in Africa as part of the third edition of Access Bank’s Pitch-athon.
ASIA
Wonder House Books from India has been selected as the winner for the continent of Asia. “We are a thriving enterprise engaged in the business of publishing high quality, interactive books for children,” is how Wonder House Books describes itself. An imprint of Prakash Books India Pvt. Ltd, India’s largest book distributor, Wonder House begun activities in 2017 and a once small business has now grown to become a fully-fledged publisher with a large team of professionals and a catalogue of unique titles for children, from stories to picture books, activity books to fairy tales. Their mission is to develop children’s passion for reading, expanding their imaginations through illustrated books and pursuing this goal through quality, creativity and innovation.
EUROPE
The winner for Europe is The Old Lion Publishing House from Ukraine. The Old Lion is a Ukrainian publisher that produces books for all the family. Every reader, from the youngest to the oldest, will find something among their books to their liking and satisfaction: picture books, poems for children, stories for school-aged children, a series for teens, non fiction for various ages as well as atlases and much, much more. “We strive to make our books inspire readers,” they explain.
NORTH AMERICA
The winner for North America is the Canadian publisher La Courte Échelle. Created in 1978 by the author Bertrand Gauthier, it became the first publishing house in Québec to specialize exclusively in children’s literature. Influenced by Europe’s dynamic approach to young peoples’ literature, Gauthier wanted to “bring Québec up to date”, and published strong, original and pertinent works by local authors. The community responded with immediate enthusiasm and the catalogue very quickly expanded to include books for all age groups, such as board books for toddlers, picture books for beginner readers, and novels for pre-teens and teens. Purchased in 2015 by Mariève Talbot and Raymond Talbot and brought into the Short Scale Publishing Group, the publisher continues to pursue its mission that began over 40 years ago: to offer quality, contemporary Québec literature to young readers aged 0 to 18.
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
The winner for Central and South America and the Caribbean is Chile’s Editorial Amanuta, which has been publishing picture books for children and young people since 2002 with the intent to entertain, inspire, move and teach. Amanuta, in fact, means “with intent” in the Aymara language and every one of their books is created with intent, dedication, work and a lot of love. The goal, is to offer innovative and creative proposals that adapt to the current times, to promote and encourage the development of young people with books that stimulate their creativity and imagination, preparing them to face the future by combining tradition and modernity.
OCEANIA
For Oceania the winner is Magabala Books from Australia. Magabala Books is Australia’s leading indigenous publisher. Owned and managed by indigenous Australians, it celebrates and nurtures talent and the diversity of voices of islanders from the Torres Strait and aborigines from all over Australia, including prizewinning authors. An independent indigenous non-profit organization, Magabala publishes titles in a vast range of genres: children’s picture books, memoires, stories for juniors, teens and adults, essays, graphic novels, social stories and poetry. Magbala’s commitment is focused on developing new and emerging indigenous writers, illustrators and narrators and protecting intellectual and cultural property. In 1984 more than 500 aboriginal leaders and elders met at a cultural festival to discuss how to protect and bolster their culture. That meeting laid the foundations for Magbala Books. In 2019 Magbala was Australia’s fastest growing small independent publisher and in 2020 it was nominated Small Publisher of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards.