THURSDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2025 We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the category of Library of the Year for our annual Romance Industry Awards (RIAs) for 2025.

The shortlist for Libraries is announced prior to the RIAs award ceremony in November to coincide with National Libraries Week (6-12 October) when the winner will be announced on 8 October 2025.

The RIAs celebrate those who have done outstanding work this year supporting the romantic fiction genre and its authors.

The shortlist for Library of the Year 2025 was decided using the following criteria:

1. How the library has supported individual writers/authors

2. How the library has supported the romance genre

3. How the library has innovated or improved support for writers/authors or the romance genre

RNA Chair, Seána Talbot, said, “The RNA is delighted by the enthusiastic response from our RNA members, industry colleagues and readers to these awards. Libraries are so important to our community and I was so impressed with the valuable work from our nominees.”

RNA Director, Lucy Morris, commented, “The Library Liaison team; Carmel Finley, Nate Evuarherhe, and myself were overwhelmed by the quality of nominations for Library of the Year 2025. Nominees demonstrated a clear love and respect for Romantic Fiction, using a variety of events, outreach and social media, to support our authors and readers. Their valuable work is admired and recognized by the RNA.”

The 2025 shortlist for the Library of the Year are as follows:

●      Hackney Community library service

●      Manchester Central Library

●      Ripley Library

The winner of RNA Library of the Year will be announced on the RNA blog and social media on the Wednesday, 8 October.

The additional six categories in the RIAs are: Publisher of the Year, Editor of the Year, Agent of the Year, Romance Narrator of the Year, Romance Champion of the Year and Rising Star of the Year.

The winners of the remaining six categories will be announced during the RIAs ceremony, which will be held at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London EC3N 2BQ, on Monday 3rd November 2023 at 11:30 a.m. The Library shortlistees and the winner are welcome to attend on the night to celebrate.

To purchase tickets for the awards ceremony on Monday, 3 November 2025, click here.