UQP's Sarah Valle Shortlisted for the 2025 APA Rising Star Award
A huge congratulations to our senior publicist Sarah Valle for being shortlisted for the Australian Publishers Association 2025 Rising Star Award.
Sarah has been recognised by the APA as an emerging talent in the publishing industry for her leadership, passion, determination, and exceptional contributions to publishing. Nominated by their companies, the Rising Star award celebrates the ongoing excellence and growth of staff who commenced their publishing careers in the past ten years.
The shortlist was selected by a panel of experts from the publishing industry comprising: Mizz De Zoysa-Lewis (Insight Publications), Jackie Money (Melbourne University Publishing), Robert Watkins (Ultimo Press) and Terri-Ann White (Upswell Publishing).
The judges said of the shortlist and nominees:
‘The 2025 Rising Star applications are a reflection of the incredible young talent across the industry in the past decade. What a privilege to see such highly deserving candidates with great determination, passion and potential.
The shortlisted candidates are undeniably Rising Stars, leading change within their roles and in the industry. They display a willingness to take on challenges, learn, upskill and excel.
On the nominees, judges said: ‘What an amazing collection of people! The nominees are all clearly talented and beloved by their colleagues.’
Sarah Valle is a passionate and dedicated publishing professional with almost nine years' experience across sales and publicity. She has supported influential names such as Andrew Quilty and Laureate Professor Peter Doherty, and is currently Senior Publicist at University of Queensland Press. At UQP, she has helped establish the career of one of 2024's most talked about authors, Jordan Prosser (Big Time), and driven campaigns for high-profile writers and thinkers such as Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, Nova Weetman and Dr Tracy Westerman. Sarah has previously held roles at Pan Macmillan Australia and Melbourne University Publishing, and worked as a bookseller at Dymocks Camberwell. She is currently a member of UQP’s Sustainability Committee.
The winner will be announced at the BookUp Conference on 7 July.
Congratulations once again Sarah on this huge achievement.


