PVLF Excellence Awards- The first 100% data driven awards

In its mission to promote literary works and industry, PragatiE Vichaar Literature Festival initiated PVLF Excellence Awards. They are perhaps the first awards that are driven by data and numbers. Frontlist Media joined hands with the Federation of Indian Publishers [FIP] and brought Nielsen as a knowledge partner. These awards are powered by Nielsen Bookscan Data, the only real source that tracks actual book sales across India and the World. Data used for the awards was from Jan 2019 - Nov 2021. Pranav Gupta, General Secretary of FIP and Co-founder of Frontlist Media says, “These dates were selected to ensure the bias of Covid may be removed from the end-result. We went till 15 months before the pandemic hit.”

The book publishing industry has come forward to support the event. Conceptualized by Frontlist, co-organized with The Federation of Indian Publishers; with Nielsen as knowledge partner and hosted by PragatiE, the event got industry wide support with publishers such as WonderHouse Publishing, Repro India, FingerPrints Publishing, Disha Publications, Dreamland Children Books, Prints Publications, LiFi Publications, Solh Wellness, BuyBooksIndia and Advit Toys joining as sponsors. All top publishers around the country had participated with their books, evangelizing their readers to vote for them and the coveted PVLF Excellence Award.

In a 10-day voting period, PVLF garnered 40,000+ votes. According to Kapil Gupta, Co-founder of Frontlist Media, “The target was upwards of 20,000 votes. However, the publishers and the authors really appreciated the awards. They combined their resources to promote their books and get the readers and fans to vote for them.”

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PVLF Author Excellence Awards were based on nominations by authors, who were allowed to nominate themselves into a maximum of 2 categories. The nominations were shortlisted by a Jury along with the Nielsen Bookscan Data. The final winner in each category was awarded on the basis of Public Voting.

The list of the winners of PVLF Author Excellence Awards:

Best Debut Fiction- Janaka and Ashtavakra: A Journey Beyond, written by    Ashraf Karayath, published by Rupa Publications
Best Debut Non Fiction Delhi Heritage- Top 10 Baolis, written by Vikramjit Singh, published by Rooprai Niyogi Books
Best Fiction- Mafia Premier League, written by K. Vijayakarthikeyan, published by Rupa Publications
Best Non-Fiction- Going Solo - Raising Happy Kids, written by Sujata Parashar, published by Vishwakarma Publications
Best Poetry- Dear Silver Lining..., written by Shalini Chhabra Jain, published by V & S Publishers

PVLF People’s Choice Publisher Awards: According to Pranav Gupta, Co-founder of Frontlist Media, “Publisher awards were meant to specifically recognize the Indian Publishers. Going beyond some of the international publishers who dominate all awards. We chose only the Indian Publishers in this category and decided upon them strictly based on the Nielsen Bookscan Data”.

There were 3 categories under this award section and the top 3 Indian Publishers in each category were selected.

Category One was 'Trade (Non-Academic) Publihsers'. Under this category, first prize was won by Prakash Books India (P) Ltd, second prize was won by Manjul Publishing House and third prize was won by Rupa Publications.

Category Two was 'Top Indian Children Publishers'. Under this category, first prize was won by Prakash Books India (P) Ltd, second prize was won by Dreamland Publications, third prize was won by Om Books International.

Category Three was 'Top Indian Academic Publishers'. Under  this category, first prize was won by Arihant Publishers, second prize was won by Disha Publication, third prize was won by S Chand & Co Ltd.

PVLF Reader’s Choice Book Awards were to recognize the most sold books across all categories. The results were based on the Nielsen definition of Silver, Gold and Platinum Books. The final winner amongst these categories was selected by Public voting.

Under the category of Platinum (250,000+ copies sold), the winner was Indian Polity, written by M. Laxmikanth, published by McGraw Hill Education. Under the category of Gold (200,000 - 250,000 copies sold), the winner was Oxford Student Atlas for India, written by Oxford Editorial Board, publihsed by Oxford University Press. Under the category of Silver (150,000 - 200,000 copies sold), the winner was Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta, written by Amish Tripathi, published by Westland Publications Ltd.