The SA Book Awards (originally named the South Africa Booksellers Choice Award) was established in 2000 to celebrate books written and published in South Africa, as voted for by South African booksellers. The awards were set up by NielsenIQ BookData and its data partner SAPnet with the support of the Publishers Association of SA and the SA Booksellers Association.
Originally, when the Awards were launched, booksellers were invited to list on a paper form the books that they had most enjoyed selling during the previous year; the shortlist and winner were then curated from the titles with the most votes. The Awards are still run on a similar basis, but from 2019 BookData began curating the longlist of titles based on its BookScan South Africa sales data and the Awards were renamed The SA Book Awards. Three categories were also introduced: Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction and Children’s. The top bestselling titles from the previous year in the three categories are now sent annually to booksellers via an electronic form and booksellers are invited to cast their votes. They also have the option to vote for a title not listed in the longlist.
The SA Book Awards has three winners annually across the three categories and the title that receives the greatest number of votes becomes the Overall Winner for that year.
Bestselling bookseller favourites over the last quarter century
When the SA Booksellers Choice Awards began in 2000, there was just one annual prize for the book booksellers had most enjoyed selling. In the first year, the prize was won by Leigh Voight for her beautiful art book Lulu Phezulu, followed by The Bang Bang Club by Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva in 2001 and The Dressing Station by Jonathan Kaplan in 2002. This set the stage for many more Non-Fiction winners over the years including In Black and White by Jake White and Craig Ray, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and Manage Your Money Like a F*cking Grown Up by Sam Beckbessinger.
Fiction titles have also shown their popularity over the years, with previous winners including Four Drunk Beauties by Alex Smith, The Keeper by Marguerite Poland and Recipes for Love and Murder by Sally Andrew.
Three authors have won the overall prize more than once: John van de Ruit with Spud in 2006 and Spud – Learning to Fly in 2010; Deon Meyer with 7 Dae in 2012 and Leo in 2024; and Trevor Noah with Born a Crime in 2017, and his Children’s version in 2020. All three authors have made the longlist for the 2025 Awards and have dominated the BookScan South Africa bestseller charts since records began in 2010. John van de Ruit’s Spud – Learning to Fly is the bestselling Fiction title with volume sales of 88k, meanwhile Deon Meyer has seven titles in the all-time bestseller chart with Donkerdrif, his most successful, shifting over 45k copies. Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime holds fifth place in the Non-Fiction chart with volume sales of 59k. The top-selling Non-Fiction title, according to BookScan South Africa, is The Real Meal Revolution by Prof Tim Noakes, Sally-Ann Creed, Jonno Proudfoot, and David Grier (who is also a previous winner in 2014), which has sold over 171k copies since records began.
When the Children’s category was introduced in 2019 it helped highlight the talent of both authors and illustrators in this genre with–alongside Trevor Noah’s children’s adaptation of Born A Crime–two further children’s titles winning the Overall Prize: How Many Ways Can You Say Hello? written by Refiloe Moahloli and illustrated by Anja Stoeckigt and My First African Adventure written by Riaan Manser with Murray Williams and Chantal Turling and illustrated by Martinus Van Tee. Riaan, who famously accepted his prize onboard a plane with his family around him, said at the time: “President Nelson Mandela once told me my bicycle ride around Africa would inspire the youth of the continent. I never believed him – maybe until now. To thank, we have our country’s incredible, passionate booksellers, bookshops and publishers. You are inspiring young and old readers, in every book shop, every day.” His heartfelt acceptance speech captured the essence of what the award aims to achieve each year.
Another emotional acceptance speech was from Stephen McGown, who won the Non-Fiction prize in 2021 for Six Years with Al Qaeda. On winning the prize Stephen said: “This would never have been achieved without the Maverick 451 team and the most incredible ghost writer, Tudor Caradoc-Davies. An enormous thanks for this incredible journey. I thank my family for their input into this book, their love and for never giving up hope during those difficult six years. I am very blessed. Lastly, a special thanks to my mom, whose memory fills our family with warmth and joy.”
The changing landscape of books in South Africa
NielsenIQ BookScan was launched in South Africa in 2010 and measures around 80% of all retail print book purchases in South Africa. Each week the service collects sales across over 35k print titles in South Africa, adding R30m in consumer spending on average. In 2024, BookScan SA measured 7m units worth R1.7b, with an average selling price of R 253. Since records began, sales value has steadily increased, reaching nearly R1.8b in 2024 despite fluctuations in volume. Sales volume, however, peaked in 2011 and has been on a general decline since, dropping from over 11.8m units in 2010 to just over 7m in 2024.
The average selling price of books has steadily increased over the last 15 years as well, almost doubling from R129.09 in 2010 to R253.63 in 2024. The most significant jumps occurred during and post-pandemic, with 8–10% year-on-year increases. 2021–2024 shows a strong recovery in value (even as volume continues to decline).
However, the first half of 2025 has seen 3.3m print books put through the tills in South Africa, marking a 5% increase on the same period in 2024, and equating to R 853m in value sales (up 8.1%). The Average Selling Price (ASP) increased by 2.55% meanwhile, a more incremental increase than in previous years.
Join us as the 2025 winners are announced
Voting has now closed for the 2025 Awards with more booksellers voting than ever before! The shortlists will be announced shortly, and the Award Ceremony will take place on Tuesday 23 September as a virtual ceremony. Everyone is welcome to join the celebration.
For more information, email: marketing.book@nielseniq.com
Follow the awards on Instagram @nielsenbook
