ABIA Virtual Awards night; everything you need to know and more.
The highly anticipated Australia Book Industry Virtual Awards event was an absolute hit on Wednesday the 28th of April.
With the expecting appearances of Cate Blanchett, Mathew McConaughey, and Malcolm Turnbull, it was set to be a good night, and although the event was nothing like what I had expected, it was still a great watch.
The event was made up of pre-recorded zoom calls from the presenters, the nominees, and the winners. Although it was aired at 8:30 pm, the stream was not live footage, but I liked this because it was clean-cut, easy to watch, and there wasn’t a moment that dragged out.
Each category introduced the nominees followed by a small clip of them explaining the motivation behind their nominated book, which was nice because we were able to put a face to the author/s.
An introductory performance from Casey Benetto, featuring various shortlisted books, set the mood for the night and had the audience excited for what was to come.
The first award presenter of the evening was Malcolm Turnbull, presenting the awards for the General Non-Fiction Book of the Year and International Book of the Year.
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In a very competitive section, the winner for the General Non-Fiction Book of the Year went to ‘Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark’ by Julia Baird (HarperCollins Publishers, Fourth Estate).
Julia was humble receiving this award, captured slightly off-guard, but it was evident she was shocked and pleased.
“I wrote this book for people who were struggling to go on, in a world that had gone dark for them.” – Julia Baird.
The next category was for the International Book of the Year. This was the only category where we didn’t hear from the shortlisted authors, but the winner Kiley Reid for Such a Fun Age featured.
“It’s incredible to see other peoples eyes transform your work to be the best it can be on its terms.” – Kiley Reid
The #ABIA2021 International Book of the Year goes to ‘Such a Fun Age’ by @kileyreid, published by @BloomsburySyd! pic.twitter.com/zX5g5ZilHk
— ABIAs (@ABIA_Awards) April 28, 2021
The next presenter was YouTube sensation and writer Nat’s What I Reckon. In true character, Nat’s video was full of funny moments and quirky video edits, and a few beeped out swear words which made for a whole lot of entertainment.
But, it was the winner Alice Zaslavsky who stole the moment when she broke down in tears after being told her book In Praise of Veg had won the Illustrated Book of the Year Award.
One thing I loved about the event was that we were shown the moment the recipients were told they had won, and the reactions were raw and priceless.
Hello book industry Twitter…
Thank you again for voting #inpraiseofveg as the @ABIA_Awards’ Best Illustrated Nonfiction 2021!
Here’s a shot that just about sums up all of the feelings in a nutshell 🌰🤯😭🤩🥳🌈💖 pic.twitter.com/YGB2qrrELx— Alice Zaslavsky (@aliceinframes) April 30, 2021
Up next, presenting the Children’s Picture Book of the Year – Ages 0-6, was Turia Pitt, the incredible Australian athlete and author who is an inspiration to many people. The winner went to the trio Adam Briggs, Kate Moon and Rachael Sarra for their book ‘Our Home, Our Heartbeat’.
This was one of the hardest award acceptances to understand for the audience; because it was through a zoom call, there was a lot of cutting between the three authors which made it hard to follow.
Turia also presented the award for the Book of the Year for Younger Children – Aged 7-12, this award went to a very deserving Amelia Mellor for her novel ‘The Grandest Bookshop in the World’.
This book was no surprise in this category as it has had plenty of success since its release in September 2020. Amelia had a heartwarming reaction to the news of winning the award. Full of so much joy, it was clear how much this award meant to her.
New on the blog: I return to the Narratograph following improvements in mental health, teaching career, book goals and DREAM ACHIEVEMENT!https://t.co/IlBdrBnWlF pic.twitter.com/qTPf5Hd6uV
— Amelia Mellor (@Amelia_R_Mellor) May 1, 2021
Throughout the awards night, there were some moments of bad video quality and audio, which was slightly disappointing, but most of the recipient’s reactions were captured effectively.
The well-renowned presenter, podcaster, and author Yumi Stynes presented the next set of awards. Her bright and bubbly personality shone through the screen and had the audience full of excitement.
‘The Left-handed Booksellers of London’ by Garth Nix was the next to take an ABIA home in the category Book of the Year for Older Children – Aged 13+.
The #ABIA2021 Book of the Year for Older Children goes to ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers of London’ by @garthnix, published by @allenandunwin. pic.twitter.com/4ophHbkoYC
— ABIAs (@ABIA_Awards) April 28, 2021
Yumi also presented the award for The General Fiction Book of the Year, which went to a book with mass-market appeal and written by an Australian author. ‘The Dictionary of Lost Words’ by Pip Williams took out the award in this category.
We were then introduced to Gamilaroi and Dungutti woman Marlee Silva, writer and founder of Tiddas 4 Tiddas. Marlee presented the awards for the small publisher’s categories. First was the Small Publisher’s Adult Book of the Year, the winner of this award was ‘The Animals in That Country’ by Laura Jean McKay.
The Small Publisher’s Children’s Book of the Year was then announced. ‘Bindi’ by Kirli Saunders was the award winner, which was no surprise with her novel being nominated for various other book awards.
One of my favourite presenters was up next, Mathew McConaughey, a famous American actor who recently published his own biography ‘Greenlights’.
Mathew presented the award for Biography Book of the Year, and the winner was ‘The Happiest Man on Earth’ the story of holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku.
It is an incredible, truly inspiring, and unbelievable story that has captured the hearts of so many people in the world. As someone who has read this book, it was no surprise to me that Eddie won.
After this award, there was a short break with a performance by Ash Grunwald. this was a really nice addition to the evening as it gave the audience a moment to reflect on the novels which had just won.
The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year was up next, presented by stand-up comedian Matt Okine, and the winner was ‘The Coconut Children’ by Vivian Pham. Matt then announced the Audiobook of the Year award, which went to Archie Roach for his novel ‘Tell Me Why’.
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At this point of the evening, we got closer to finding out who was receiving the Book of the Year award, so excitement levels were starting to rise with only two awards left before the big reveal.
Well-known author Charlotte Wood was the next presenter to announce awards for The Bookshop of the Year, which went to Avid Reader, located in Brisbane.
Charlotte also announced the award for Literary Book of the Year, which she was the recipient of in 2020. This award went to Jessie Tu for her novel ‘A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing’.
The #ABIA2021 Literary Fiction Book of the Year goes to ‘A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing’ by @jess_tu2, published by @allenandunwin. pic.twitter.com/B1TBTwUcQW
— ABIAs (@ABIA_Awards) April 28, 2021
Finally, it was the highly anticipated appearance of Australian actor, director, and producer Cate Blanchet who came next to present the biggest award of the night, the ABIA Book of the Year Award.
This award’s nominees was made up of all the other award recipients through the night.
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And… it was ‘Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark’ by Julia Baird who took out the gold. After its release in late March 202o when Australia went into lockdown, this novel attracted so much attention.
A Facebook live Q&A book launch attracted almost 25,000 people, and from there it went on to become the second highest-selling nonfiction book in Australia in 2020. Julia’s hard work was truly rewarded through the night, taking away two awards.
“A massive honour to collect these for Phosphorescence, for Non Fiction Book of the year and Book of the Year from the Australian Book Industry Awards. So proud to be part of this vibrant, hard working community and blown away to have had this reaction to a book I expected to be a quiet addition to my bookshelf.” – Julia Baird.
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Overall the ABIA Virtual Awards event was a success. Despite moments of poor video quality and audio, we were still able to understand the presenters and the reactions of the award winners. This event wasn’t what I had expected going into the night, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved the format of the virtual event.
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