Australian Book Industry Awards: Nagi Maehashi’s cookbook wins major prize as Brooki’s cupboard is bare
Nagi Maehashi has taken the cake for cookbooks at the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards, while ailing singer John Farnham rises to the top.
All rise for Nagi: Australia’s most popular baker, Nagi Maehashi, has taken the cake and eaten it, too, winning the prize for Best Illustrated Book on at the Australian book industry’s “night of nights”.
Her chief rival, Brooke Bellamy, was nominated in the same category. The two cooks have been in an entertaining food fight ever since Maehashi, of RecipeTin Eats, accused her Gen Y rival of taking two of her recipes without permission. (The Australian does not say this is so, only that the allegation has been made.)
“I’m no stranger to seeing my recipes being copied online,” Maehashi wrote on Instagram.
“But seeing what I believe to be my recipes and my words printed in a multimillion-dollar book launched with a huge publicity campaign from one of Australia’s biggest publishers was shocking.”
Nagi, as she’s known to fans, said she didn’t want money, only attribution, which Brooki (as she’s known to her fans) says she doesn’t owe, insisting all her recipes are her own.
The dispute threatened to boil over at the Australian Book Industry Awards, held in Melbourne on Wednesday evening, since both cooks were nominated in the same category, but Maehashi won it, in part because she’s sold more than 330,000 copies of her second book, RecipeTin Eats (Dinner) while Brooki has sold just 97,000 copies of Bake With Brooki.
The prizes are designed to reflect the effort that goes into making and selling a book, as well as the content.
Also rising on the night: music legend John Farnham who won three top prizes, including Book of the Year.
Farnham is fighting cancer and could not attend the event, where he also won Audiobook of the Year and Biography of the Year for The Voice Inside.
Described by its publisher Hachette Australia as an “unflinching and unforgettable memoir of music and life”, the biography explores Farnham’s rise to fame and the challenges he has faced since.
“The Voice Inside is like sitting down with an old friend sharing stories that are both deeply personal and wildly entertaining,” the publisher wrote.
Gaynor Wheatley accepted the awards on his behalf.
The former Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer, claimed a prize for Social Impact Book of the Year despite currently battling a brain tumour.
His book, Brainstorm, which he wrote with Garry Maddox, explores the doctor’s devastating diagnosis and fight against brain cancer.
Journalist Joe Aston’s exposé of Qantas’s ethical failings in The Chairman’s Lounge won General Nonfiction Book of the Year.
Other winners included Dervla McTiernan’s What Happened to Nina? for General Fiction Book of the Year and Robbie Arnott’s Dusk for Literary Fiction of the Year.
Gina Chick’s We Are The Stars took out The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year.
Deborah Frenkel and Danny Snell’s The Truck Cat was the Children’s Picture Book of the Year.
Australian Publishers Association chief executive Patrizia Di Biase-Dyson said she was “delighted” to celebrate the awards, which acknowledged all parties involved in the book creation and distribution process.
“The ABIA is different to other book awards as the book industry celebrates not only the authors but the people and the publishing houses behind their books,” she said.
“The industry judges cast their eagle eyes over the whole process of bringing books to consumers – from editing the manuscript through to the sales, marketing and publicity.”
Each year, the ABIAs are judged by more than 50 industry peers across nine specialist panels, including publishers, booksellers, librarians, distributors, literary agents and media.
2025 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS
Audiobook of the Year
The Voice Inside, John Farnham with Poppy Stockell
Biography Book of the Year
The Voice Inside, John Farnham with Poppy Stockell (Hachette)
The John Marsden Book of the Year for Older Children (13+)
My Family and Other Suspects, Kate Emery (A&U)
Book of the Year for Younger Children (7–12)
Wurrtoo, Tylissa Elisara, illustrated by Dylan Finney (Lothian)
Children’s Picture Book of the Year (0–6)
The Truck Cat, Deborah Frenkel, illustrated by Danny Snell (Bright Light)
General Fiction Book of the Year
What Happened to Nina?, Dervla McTiernan (HarperCollins)
General Non-fiction Book of the Year
The Chairman’s Lounge, Joe Aston (Scribner)
Illustrated Book of the Year
RecipeTin Eats: Tonight, Nagi Maehashi (Pan Macmillan)
International Book of the Year
The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley (Sceptre)
Literary Fiction Book of the Year
Dusk, Robbie Arnott (Picador)
Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year
All I Ever Wanted Was to Be Hot, Lucinda Price (Pantera)
Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year
Leo and Ralph, Peter Carnavas (UQP)
Social Impact Book of the Year
Brainstorm, Richard Scolyer with Garry Maddox (A&U)
The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year
We Are the Stars, Gina Chick (Summit)
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