Mills & Boon senior editor, Rebecca Slorach, is a finalist in the Inclusion Award category for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s (RNA) annual Industry Awards for 2022. The awards celebrate the hard work and talent of any person, group or organisation who has championed the broad genre of romantic fiction in a positive way, with the Inclusion Award recognising the individual or organisation that has championed inclusivity in romantic authorship and publishing.

As Senior Editor at Mills & Boon, Rebecca actively seeks out and encourages new authors. This included launching the Mills & Boon Romance Includes Everyone competition to find LGBTQI+ protagonists, and the Love to Write competition to find new authors from underrepresented backgrounds. She recently published Georgia Toffolo’s bestselling Meet me in… series, which has sold over 100,000 copies; the Sunday Times bestseller Her Heart for a Compass from the Duchess of York; Amber Rose Gill’s summer romance Until I Met You; and the LGBTQI+ romance The Secret of You and Me by Melissa Lenhardt. She is equally proud to publish a range of bestselling romance authors including: Susan Mallery, Sherryl Woods, Robyn Carr, Naima Simone, Julia London and Eva Leigh. Next year she will publish debut author Emma Denny’s LGBTQI+ historical romance One Night in Hartswood.

She commented, ‘I am delighted to be shortlisted for this award. Inclusivity is integral to our publishing strategy at Mills & Boon and to be recognised in this category means a great deal to me. Romance tells universal stories, and taking an inclusive approach to publishing romance, through initiatives to encourage underrepresented authors and protagonists, gives everyone the chance to have their story told. I have been hugely impressed with and inspired by the quality of material I have seen coming through. I hope this is just the start of many great new voices in romance.’

Laura James, the RNA Industry Awards organiser, added, ‘I congratulate each and every finalist and thank them and the industry for the unwavering love they show writers and readers of romantic fiction.’

The awards have been held for the past eight years and are highly respected in the UK publishing industry. The finalists are nominated by the full and probationary membership of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, with a panel of independent judges selecting the shortlists.

The award categories are: The Romantic Bookseller of the Year, Inclusion Award, Indie Champion of the Year, Library or Librarian of the Year, Indie Editor of the Year, Cover Designer of the Year, Narrator of the Year, Media Star of the Year, Agent of the Year, and Publisher and / or Editor of the Year.

The winners of the ten awards will be announced during the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Winter Party and Industry Awards ceremony, which is being held at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London EC3N 2BQ, on Friday 11th November 2022 at 6.30pm.

Twitter: @BeckySlorach

This year’s awards are sponsored by ProWritingAid, a manuscript editing software programme with in-app video learning for writers.