A little awkward this, but...
...some nice news (though let me note, it wasn't single-handedly, and I consider this to be an award for Soft Skull as an entity...)
Washington, D.C., December 22, 2005: The Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced today that Richard Nash, Publisher of Soft Skull Press is the recipient of this year’s Miriam Bass Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing. The award will be presented on March 15 in New York at the AAP Annual Meeting for Small and Independent Publishers.
The award, given annually, was created in memory of Miriam Bass to honor her many contributions to the book publishing community and is co-sponsored by AAP, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, and National Book Network (NBN). It carries a $5,000 cash prize, which is fully funded by Rowman & Littlefield and NBN.
A judging committee representing a cross-section of the publishing industry selected Mr. Nash based on his tireless and visionary work at Soft Skull Press. Mr. Nash single-handedly took a struggling company and turned it into one that has become synonymous with excellence in literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Mr. Nash has demonstrated a remarkable ability to find and publish exciting and challenging new works as well as skill and creativity in getting his titles noticed, reviewed and publicized. Soft Skull titles have been featured and reviewed by national publications including The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly and Vanity Fair, and on television programs such as “The Today Show,” “20/20” and “48 Hours.” The Neighborhood Story Project, a community documentary program in New Orleans, garnered national attention as well when Mr. Nash and other printers donated printing services and published books by four young authors.
When told that he was selected, Mr. Nash said, “I think of an award like this as a symbol of something much larger than the individual recipient. It's a celebration of the remarkable ecology that is independent publishing and it is an honor to be, for a moment, representative of that beautiful ecology.”
Jed Lyons, President of Rowman & Littlefield commented, “Miriam Bass loved creativity in people, especially when it was in service to the book business. Miriam would have heartily approved of the selection of Richard Nash who is one of the most talented and audacious people in our industry.”
Nominees for this award may be engaged in any area of book publishing provided their publishing house is independent. This year’s judging committee was composed of Peter Burford (Burford Books), Tom Dwyer (Borders Group, Inc.), Francine Fialkoff (Library Journal), Ron Powers (Ingram Book Company), John Whitman (Turtle Books) and Marcella Smith (Barnes & Noble).