The Awards will be presented in the following categories: Printed Books (English, Indian Languages, Illustrated, Children's Books), Editor, Illustrator, Cover Design (English, Indian Languages), Bookstore, and Publisher.

In Printed Book of the Year category (English), the shortlisted books are Born to Be Hanged: Political Biography of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Rupa Publications); Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory (HarperCollins India); Sair-ul-Manazil (Tulika Books); Strongmen: Trump, Modi, Erdogan, Duterte (LeftWord Books) and The RTI Story: Power to the People (Roli Books).

In Printed Book of the Year category (Indian Languages), the shortlisted books are Avasthantarachya Kavita (Copper Coin Publishing); Janamaru Maran (Dhauli Books); Sukh Aur Sehat Ka Swad (HarperCollins India); Samparkkshetrachya Baher (Copper Coin Publishing) and Vachabhang (Copper Coin Publishing).

In Children’s Book of the Year, the shortlisted books are A Book for Puchku (Pratham Books); Amrita Sher-Gil: Rebel with a Paintbrush (HarperCollins India); Dance of the Wild (Pickle Yolk Books); Salim Mamoo and Me (Tulika Publishers) and The Boys Who Fought (Penguin Random House).

In Illustrated Book of the Year, the shortlisted books are Bollywood: The Films! The Songs! The Stars! (Dorling Kindersley Publishing); Manu Parekh: 60 Years of Selected Works (Aleph Book Company); Longform Vol.1: An Anthology of Graphic Narratives (HarperCollins India); The Konyaks: Last of the Tattooed Headhunters (Roli Books) and Vivan Sundaram: History Project (Tulika Books).

In Book Cover of the Year category (English), the shortlisted books are 100 Poems Are Not Enough (Walking Bookfairs; Designed by Biraja Biswal); Centrepiece (Zubaan; Designed by Pooja Saxena); Day and Dastan: Two Novellas (Niyogi Books; Designed by Misha Oberoi); Jadoowallahs, Jugglers and Jinns (Pan Macmillan India; Designed by Haitenlo Semy) and Night of Happiness (Pan Macmillan India; Designed by Steve Leard).

In Book Cover of the Year category (Indian Languages), the shortlisted books are Do Log (HarperCollins India; Designed by Saurabh Garge); Imran Series Volume 2 (HarperCollins India; Designed by Rehman Muzbir and Shuka Jain); Mooper (Discovery Book Palace; Designed by M Rohini); Pazhaya Yaanai Kadai (Kalachuvadu Publications; Designed by M Rohini) and Peruvali (Kalachuvadu Publications; Designed by M Rohini).

In Editor of the Year category, the shortlisted names are Aienla Ozukum; Gurveen Chadha; Premanka Goswami; Reena Puri and Sohini Mitra.

In Illustrator of the Year, the shortlisted names are Kalyani Ganapathy; Rajiv Eipe; Ruchi Mhasane; Sonali Zohra; and Vidit Narang.

In Bookstore of the Year category, the shortlisted entries are Bingsha Shatabdi; Kitab Khana; Om Book Shop; Trilogy; and Walking Bookfairs.

In the Publisher of the Year category, the shortlisted entries are Aleph Book Company, Duckbill Books, HarperCollins Publishers India, Kalachuvadu Publications, and Pickle Yolk Books.

The Publishing Next Industry Awards were instituted in 2014 to reward the talent, initiative, entrepreneurial zeal and untiring efforts of publishers big, small, independent – that create books. Now in its 5th year, the Awards are established under the aegis of the neutral platform of the Publishing Next conference, and seek to recognise the innovation and leadership of publishing professionals and others in the book trade. The jury for the Awards comprised of distinguished persons in the publishing and allied fields.