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The Big Book Awards 2018 winners announced – so what are the best reads of the year?
The results are in – here are your must-reads for the year.
The results are in – and we can now announce the winners of The Big Book Awards 2018.
An introduction to the Hearst Big Book Awards
The Big Book Awards were launched earlier this year by Digital Spy's publisher, Hearst UK, and the inaugural awards and accreditation scheme has chosen the very best reads of the year across publishing.
Read and marked by a combination of magazine editors, industry experts and Hearst's readers, the winning books span categories from crime to cookery and acclaimed authors with a range of stories to share – including Jasmine Hemsley, Adam Kay and Juno Dawson. The winners will be presented with their trophies at House of Hearst in central London on September 13.
"It's safe to say in its first year, Hearst's Big Book was a real success. We received a huge amount of entries and with the support of nine leading brands, their editors, readers, industry experts and a retail partnership with WH Smiths, Big Book has made a big impact," said Judith Secombe, managing director of Hearst Brand Services.
"We hope to build on the success of this year's campaign when we return next year. Congratulations to all the winners!"
Modern Classics (Harper's Bazaar)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Bloomsbury)
Health and Lifestyle (Men's Health)
The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner (Oneworld)
Children 7-12 (Red)
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend (Hachette Children)
Children 0-6 (Red)
What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday by Julia Donaldson (Pan Macmillan Children's)
Kate (they/she) is a freelance writer, editor, digital editorial trainer and data technician who first joined Digital Spy as an overnight freelance sub-editor in January 2011, after studying a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Salford University while working part-time as a social researcher.
In July 2013, Kate joined the DS staff team as chief sub-editor and following six years as the site's managing editor, their role expanded to incorporate Hearst UK's entertainment portfolio (including Digital Spy and its sibling titles Best and Inside Soap) between late 2024 and early 2026.
Kate has worked as a writer and editor since 2006, with bylines syndicated across the Hearst network and at organisations including Metro. They started their career as a TV production runner for the BBC and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
During her time at DS, Kate has previously been a freelance sub-editor and chief sub-editor.
Kate's team at Digital Spy were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022. Over the years, she has contributed to coverage of many, many Prime Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and was part of the team that launched the DS weekly TV newsletter in November 2019 – followed by the Top of the Shops e-commerce newsletter in May 2024.
Kate's screen passions include Taskmaster (their biggest career regret remains turning down the opportunity to visit the house), nature documentaries, and live sport (up there with the greatest of all soap operas although if asked to choose, it's Corrie… every time).
Her highlights while working at DS have included interviewing Stevie Nicks on the red carpet for her documentary In Your Dreams, sitting at a press roundtable with Formula 1 commentary icon Murray Walker, watching a life-sized LEGO car being driven around Silverstone, writing an album-by-album retrospective of Lady Gaga's genre-defying career for Living Legends, and raising awareness of receiving and understanding a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis through the lens of Bianca and Freddie's EastEnders storyline.
Upon remembering to log off the internet, Kate enjoys live theatre, dance and comedy, appreciating nature, baking (badly), tending a recently-rented allotment (equally badly) and pampering one very spoiled rescue cat named Jolene.
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