2019 Yale scholarship recipient Tom Rennie
Despite tough competition the recipient of the W.E. and M.L. Forde Scholarship to attend the Yale Book Publishing Course in Connecticut has been decided. PANZ is delighted to announce that Tom Rennie, Publisher at Bridget Williams Books will be heading to the US to take up this opportunity in July next year.
Panel member and Yale Publishing Course alumna Melanie Laville-Moore said “This is the last year that PANZ will be able to award the W.E and M.L Forde Scholarship for attendance at the Yale publishing course, and so unsurprisingly, there was a large pool of applications received. The standard was extremely high and whilst this made for some tough decision-making, it was heartening to be reminded of the immense talent pool that New Zealand publishing enjoys”.
Tom has led BWB’s digital strategy and developed the highly successful BWB Texts series. From early 2016, as BWB’s Publisher, Tom has been responsible for commissioning books, covering both New Zealand history and contemporary issues.
Tom told PANZ News “I’m deeply grateful and excited to be able to attend the Yale Publishing Course in 2019, with the support of the W.E and M.L Forde Publishing Scholarship. This opportunity arrives at a very timely moment in respect of my work at BWB. I’m particularly looking forward to meeting fellow publishers from around the world and the prospect of developing lasting connections. The course always offers an astute assessment of the state of the global industry and I’m also looking forward to relaying a summary of this to PANZ members when I return.”
In 2019 the week-long Yale Publishing course will run from 28 July – 2 August. The course is an intensive classroom-based course for mid- to senior-level professionals in all areas of publishing. It tackles timely issues facing publishing professionals, giving a candid inside look at lessons learned by industry leaders as well as forward-looking approaches to publishing as a global enterprise.
Congratulations Tom! We look forward to reporting back to members on Tom’s experiences in due course.
Sadly, 2019 marks the final year of the W.E. and M.L. Forde Scholarship, however if you are interested in an international career changing course don’t forget that the PANZ International Career Development Fund is available to members with funding of up to $3,000 available to attend an international course, internship or fellowship. More details here.
