The owner of Maldon Books has won a prestigious national award that celebrates her inspirational business success at just 26 years of age.

Olivia Rosenthall, who owns the popular shop in High Street, Maldon, is one of the five winners of the sixth annual Trailblazer Awards announced this week.

The Trailblazer Awards are run by The London Book Fair, in partnership with the Publishers Association and supported by the Society of Young Publishers and BookBrunch.

Celebrating young talent under the age of 30 in the publishing industry, the award recognises Olivia's achievement of running her own highly successful bookshop.

In typically modest style, Olivia told Maldon Nub News: "It was a really lovely surprise for a Monday morning!"

As part of this year's prize, the five winners will receive mentorship from previous Trailblazer Awards recipients, including Anna Russo (Hodder Education), Bryony Woods (DKW Literary Agency), Ella Kahn (DKW Literary Agency), Heather McDaid (404 Ink), and Phoebe Morgan (HarperCollins). The new mentorship programme will help winners to develop their publishing careers and network during the pandemic, with past Trailblazers sharing the expertise they have gained since they took home the award themselves.

Andy Ventris, Director of The London Book Fair, said: "We are delighted to announce the winners of this year's Trailblazer Awards, featuring inspiring individuals from across the book world. It has been a challenging year for publishing, but these winners demonstrate the passion, dedication and creativity which make the industry so resilient. We look forward to seeing what all five of them do next."

You can read a previous interview with Olivia where she tells what it was like to have ventured into her first business just months before the pandemic started here.

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This year's Trailblazers will be promoted across The London Book Fair's social media channels, as well in BookBrunch, and will receive the coveted Trailblazer trophy. An event bringing together the five winners is planned for the fair, allowing them to discuss their careers, the issues that matter to them and thoughts on the future of the publishing industry. Details of the event will be released shortly.

The four other winners were:

-Ain-Deheb Bensenouci, Partnerships and Events Manager, Penguin Contact

-Hannah Chukwu, Assistant Editor at Hamish Hamilton