Kim Scott Walwyn Prize 2012

The winner

Rukhsana Yasmin, a physicist turned publisher, was named the winner of the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize 2012 after just five years in the trade.

The accolade, which recognises both the professional achievements and promise of women in publishing, was announced at a ceremony packed with publishers, young and old, at the Free Word Centre in Farringdon. Matthew Hollis, Editor at Faber & Faber and prize-winning author, who was a good friend and colleague of Kim Scott Walwyn, awarded Rukhsana with her Prize of £1,000 sponsored by the Society of Young Publishers and a two-day course of her choice, courtesy of the Publishing Training Centre.

Read a blog from Rukhsana about her win

After obtaining a Masters in Physics from the University of Surrey and undertaking numerous media jobs, Rukhsana made the transition to book publishing in 2007 when she was accepted as a trainee on the Arts Council's Diversity in Publishing Scheme at Saqi Books. Having learnt the ropes there, in 2009 she secured an Assistant Editor's position at Profile Books, before being promoted to Editor in 2010. The first title she acquired, In The Place of Justice by Wilbert Rideau, was shortlisted for the Golden Dagger and won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In February, Rukhsana returned to where she started out, taking on the role of Commissioning Editor for Saqi's newly launched imprint The Westbourne Press and fiction imprint Telegram Books. Here her ambition is to publish extraordinary life stories from across the world and titles that make science accessible to everyone. Her perseverance in carving out a publishing career, clear passion for the books she commissions, and the potential she has to make a difference in the industry over the next decade, made her this year's judges' choice.

Kate Jury, Chair of the Prize Advisory Committee and the judging panel said:
'The judging committee was incredibly impressed by the quality of the entrants for this year's Prize, and choosing both the shortlist and the winner has been a difficult but enjoyable task. The talent, energy, and determination of our shortlist show what a creative and forward-looking publishing industry we have. Our winner, Rukhsana Yasmin, has a passion for publishing inspiring stories and important ideas, which she communicates with a fluency and verve that Kim would have admired tremendously.

Rukhsana joins an impressive list of Prize alumni including: last year's winner Kay Peddle, Editor at the Bodley Head; Kathy Rooney, Managing Director of Bloomsbury Publishing; Clare Alexander, Literary Agent at Aitken Alexander Associates; Annette Thomas, CEO of Macmillan; Penelope Hoare, Deputy Managing Director at Chatto & Windus (although now semi-retired); and the inaugural winner Lynette Owen OBE, Copyright Director of Pearson Education.

Kay Peddle, who joined the judging panel this year, commented:
'It's been an honour to be a judge for the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize. The applicants were all outstanding and it was a near-impossible decision to make, but Rukhsana Yasmin stood out. Her passion, resilience, perseverance, determination and impeccable literary taste mark her as a publisher with a brilliant future.'

The Kim Scott Walwyn Prize 2012 shortlist

The 2012 shortlist:

• Donna Condon -Senior Commissioning Fiction Editor, Piatkus - Little, Brown
• Eleanor Crawforth -Editor / Sales and Marketing Manager, Carcanet Press
• Bethan Jones - Head of Yellow Jersey Press / Crime Fiction and Senior Publicity Manager, Chatto and Windus, Harvill Secker and Square Peg - Random House
• Rukhsana Yasmin -Commissioning Editor, Westbourne Press and Telegram Books - Saqi Books
  
  

Kate Jury, Chair of the Prize Advisory Committee and the judging panel commented:

'This is the second year of the re-launched Kim Scott Walwyn Prize, which recognises the talents and achievement of women in the early stages of their publishing careers. As judges we have been struck by the quality, commitment and diversity of the applicants - they have come from major commercial houses and small niche companies; from marketing, sales, PR, and editorial, often combining several of these roles to develop a breadth of experience which is impressive. Nearly all of the candidates have been exploring new media as ways of reaching readers. Choosing a shortlist from amongst such remarkable entrants has been both very hard and a privilege.'

Download the press release

The judges commended the shortlist as follows:

Donna Condon

Donna stood out for several reasons: her recognition of the distinctive characteristics of genre fiction and the importance of attracting readers through strong author brands; a desire to create a profitable list within a new and emerging market-'I could see the potential for commercial success amongst the vampires, werewolves, forbidden love and pure escapism'; and her vision for using a digital platform for launching new authors in the Piatkus Entice list, while at the same time developing a forward strategy which saw successful authors moving into print after a digital launch, and the backlists of established authors being kept available in digital form.

 Eleanor Crawforth

Eleanor's application struck a chord with the judges due to the sheer breadth of her role and the way in which, in a relatively short career, she has been able to develop successful and recognised editorial skills and judgement, and grow new authors. At the same time she has developed marketing, sales, and PR roles for Carcanet - negotiating new sales and distribution, building an e-book list, and cultivating relationships with reviewers and readers. It is impressive the way that she has used these different aspects of her job to build a strong publishing identity when it could have been all too easy to be distracted by the range of responsibility.

Bethan Jones

Bethan impressed the panel with the creativity of her campaigns and the absolute dedication and attention to detail with which she approaches her work. The judges were excited by way she harnesses a multitude of different channels to reach readers with new authors and new books - including staging circus performances to promote The Night Circus, developing digital games, as well as using the whole range of social media, digital platforms and traditional print. She has applied her originality not just to individual books and authors, but to strategies for the whole crime list at Random House. She has also found time to mentor another young publisher through the SYP's 'one-to-one' scheme.

Rukhsana Yasmin

Rukhsana came across as a remarkable candidate in her application, communicating her passion and commitment for the authors and books she has commissioned. At Profile she introduced some original works from unlikely sources including Wilbert Rideau's In the Place of Justice. She also spotted the potential and importance of a book that was freely available as a digital download - From Dictatorship to Democracy - and with the support of the author turned it into an international bestseller in paperback. Rukshana has recently returned to Saqi books as a Commissioning Editor with a determination to commission and publish works that are original and important, reflecting her own passion for communicating science, ideas, and remarkable life stories to as wide an audience as possible.

This year's judging panel sees a few new additions, including Prize Advisory Committee member Francine Stock, former winner Kay Peddle, as well as SYP representative Ella Kahn. Last year's judge and former SYP Vice-Chair Nicola Crossley has been invited to sit on the Prize Advisory Committee.

This year's judging panel is:

• (Chair) Kate Jury - Garden and landscape designer, Oxford Garden Partners; formerly a Marketing Director for Oxford University Press
• Catherine Clarke - Literary Agent and Managing Director at the Felicity Bryan Agency
• Nicola Crossley - SYP Vice-Chair 2010
• Denise Johnstone-Burt - Publisher at Walker Books
• Ella Kahn - SYP Chair 2011 and Assistant Literary Agent at Andrew Nurnberg Associates
• Kay Peddle - winner of the 2011 Prize and Editor at The Bodley Head
• Francine Stock - novelist and broadcaster