In its mission to promote literary works and industry, PragatiE Vichaar Literature Festival initiated PVLF Excellence Awards. They are perhaps the first 100% authentic awards driven by data and numbers. Frontlist Media joined hands with the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) and brought Nielsen as a knowledge partner.
These awards are powered by Nielsen Bookscan Data, the only real source that tracks actual book sales across India and the World. Data used for the awards was from Jan 2019 – Nov 2021. Pranav Gupta, general secretary of FIP and co-founder of Frontlist Media, said, “These dates were selected to ensure the bias of Covid may be removed from the end-result. We went till 15 months before the pandemic hit.”
The industry has come forward to support the event. Conceptualized by Frontlist, co-organized with the Federation of Indian Publishers, with Nielsen as knowledge partner, and hosted by PragatiE, the event got industry-wide support with publishers such as WonderHouse Publishing, Repro India, FingerPrints Publishing, Disha Publications, Dreamland Children Books, Prints Publications, LiFi Publications, Solh Wellness, BuyBooksIndia and Advit Toys joining as sponsors. All top publishers around the country had participated with their books, evangelizing their readers to vote for them and the coveted PVLF excellence award.
In a ten-day voting period, PVLF garnered 40,000+ votes. According to Kapil Gupta, co-founder of Frontlist Media, “The target was upwards of 20,000 votes. However, the publishers and the authors really appreciated the awards. They combined their resources to promote their books and get the readers and fans to vote for them.”
List of PragatiE Vichaar excellence awards and the winners
PVLF Author Excellence Awards – These awards were based on nominations by authors, who were allowed to nominate themselves into a maximum of two categories. A Jury shortlisted the nominations along with the Nielsen Bookscan Data. The final winner in each category was awarded based on Public Voting.
Below is the list of the winners of PVLF author excellence awards –
Winners of PVLF Author Excellence Awards
| Category | Book Name | Author Name | Publisher Name |
| Best Debut Fiction | Janaka and Ashtavakra – A Journey Beyond | Ashraf Karayath | Rupa Publications |
| Best Debut Non-Fiction | Delhi Heritage – Top 10 Baolis | Vikramjit Singh Rooprai | Niyogi Books |
| Best Fiction | Mafia Premier League | K. Vijayakarthikeyan | Rupa Publications |
| Best Non-Fiction | Going Solo – Raising Happy Kids | Sujata Parashar | Vishwakarma Publications |
| Best Poetry | Dear Silver Lining | Shalini Chhabra Jain | V & S Publishers |
PVLF People’s Choice Publisher Awards – According to Pranav Gupta, co-founder of Frontlist Media, “Publisher awards were meant to recognize the Indian Publishers specifically. Going beyond some of the international publishers who dominate all awards. We chose only the Indian Publishers in this category and decided upon them strictly based on the Nielsen Bookscan Data.”
There were three categories under this award section, and the top 3 Indian Publishers in each category were selected.
Winners of PVLF People’s Choice Publisher Awards
| Awards | Trade (Non-Academic) Publishers | Top Indian Children Publishers | Top Indian Academic Publishers |
| First Prize | Prakash Books India | Prakash Books India | Arihant Publishers |
| Second Prize | Manjul Publishing House | Dreamland Publications | Disha Publication |
| Third Prize | Rupa Publications | Om Books International | S Chand |
PVLF Reader’s Choice Book Awards – These awards recognized the most sold books across all categories. The results were based on the Nielsen definition of Silver, Gold, and Platinum Books. The final winner amongst these categories was selected by Public voting.
Winners of PVLF People’s Reader’s Choice Book Awards
| Category | Book Name | Author Name | Publisher Name |
| Platinum (250,000+ copies sold) | Indian Polity | M Laxmikanth | McGraw Hill Education |
| Gold (200,000 – 250,000 copies sold) | Oxford Student Atlas for India | Oxford Editorial Board | Oxford University Press |
| Silver (150,000 – 200,000 copies sold) | Raavan – Enemy of Aryavarta | Amish Tripathi | Westland Publications |
