The award was presented to Ziel Bergh, sales manager, Penguin Books (South Africa) on behalf of John van de Ruit at the PASA and SABA Conference (Publisher and Booksellers Associations of South Africa) as part of its annual awards ceremony when booksellers and publishers receive trade recognition from their peers.
Numerous awards including the long-standing Sefika Award for Best Trade Publisher are presented annually alongside the Nielsen Bookseller's Choice Award and, for the first time, the Nielsen SAPnet Gold Book Award.
When van de Ruit was informed about this recognition he said, "I am honoured to receive this award. Spud: Exit Pursued by a Bear was the final book in the Spud series and I am thrilled that the series has ended on this note.
"The last eight years since the release of Spud have been the most exciting and inspiring of my life, and I feel blessed and fortunate by all that has come my way. I would like to thank my publishers Penguin Books who took a chance on a greenhorn author and gave his book great flapping wings. Alison Lowry, my editor and literary guide deserves a standing ovation too. I would like to pay special mention to the booksellers of South Africa who work miracles in a very tough economic and literary climate. You are all as much a part of Spud's success as I am. Finally I hope that the Spud series serves to inspire young and old South African authors to believe in the seemingly impossible."
Simon Skinner, sales director, Nielsen BookData, said on presenting this award, "Both SAPnet and I are delighted to present this milestone award to John for his outstandingly successful Spud series of books. We also look forward to seeing more South African authors receiving this award in the years ahead."
Freda van Wyk, COO for SAPnet, Nielsen's distributor in South Africa added, "van de Ruit is a very popular author; he won the Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award in 2006 and 2010 and was shortlisted in 2008 and 2013 - he has an impressive track record and readers love Spud."
