Jamie Smart wins Illustrator of the Year and Children's Illustrated Book of the Year at the British Book Awards
Photograph: Charlotte Knee
We are delighted to see that Jamie Smart has won two awards at the British Book Awards 2024, aka the Nibbies. He won Children's Illustrated Book of the Year for BUNNY VS MONKEY: MULTIVERSE MIX-UP (award sponsored by Lovereadingforkids), and then won the overall award for Illustrator of the Year (award sponsored by Sweet Cherry publishing). In his speeches he thanked his publisher of ten years David Fickling Books, The Phoenix Comic, and his longtime agent Jodie Hodges, who was nominated for Literary Agent of the Year.
In their announcement, the Bookseller have said:
By any measure, Jamie Smart had a remarkable 12 months. Sales of his books grew 84% in 2023, making Smart one of the biggest-selling graphic novelists, outpacing (in growth terms) even last year's Illustrator of the Year, Alice Oseman. Sales of his breakthrough series, Bunny vs Monkey - first published a decade ago - rose 81% year on year. [...]
But is it not just about the numbers. Smart has been working in the weeds of this sector for more than two decades, his first weekly children's comic was in the Sunday Times' children's supplement the Funday Times, before spending a decade at the Dandy. He developed his work at DFB's weekly The Phoenix and continues to draw for it, viewing it as the heartbeat of the UK comics scene, holding events and workshops at the annual sold-out Phoenix Fest.In an interview with The Bookseller, Smart said: "There's a kind of renaissance happening... I really hope it grows even more and that publishers put their faith in comic creators."