Two SAGE employees have been shortlisted for the London Book Fair Trailblazers Award. Delayna Spencer, Senior Commissioning Editor for Education, and Maria Omena-Neale, Marketing Executive, have been recognized for creativity, dedication and innovation in their respective roles.

The London Book Fair Trailblazer Award celebrates talented professionals under 30 in the UK publishing industry and is presented in partnership with the Publishers Association and supported by the Society of Young Publishers and BookBrunch.

Delayna Spencer joined SAGE in 2015 and is now a Senior Commissioning Editor in Education. “It is a privilege to work with authors who are passionate about education and who want to create books which support people in being the best practitioner they can be. I’m keen to hear from people with new ideas and work closely with them to translate that idea into an invaluable resource for students and practitioners.” Delayna is spearheading SAGE’s Social Science for Social Justice series, a new international book series on social justice topics written by authors of color. She also co-founded SAGE’s employee-led BAME and LGBTQIA+ groups. Connect with her on Twitter at @delayna_spencer

Maria Omena-Neale is a Marketing Executive for UK Books, working on Psychology, Study Skills, Nursing, Social Work, Criminology and Sociology. She joined SAGE in October 2020 and has worked on a range of activities, such as partnering with student societies, curating SAGE’s Bookshop.org shopfront, and more recently, leading a series of student webinars in partnership with JS Group. She was Social Media Manager for the Society of Young Publishers (London) in 2021, responsible for growing their social media presence across channels by sharing opportunities, content and events for early-career and aspiring publishing professionals. Connect with her on Twitter at @mariaomena_