A RYEDALE author and reviewer has won a leading award in the literary industry.

Steve Emmett, from Leavening, was presented with the 2013 Book Awards for best book reviews. He competed against other professionals from around the world to win the award in the first year it has been offered to professionals who support the literary industry.

The Book Awards have been run by not-for-profit publisher Acclaimed Books Limited since 2008.

Steve said: “It has been a delight to take part in this truly democratic competition and experience first-hand the appreciation for all those who provide services to authors. To win against such strong competition is the icing on the cake.”

Steve is a writer of horror and thrillers.

The Book Awards boss, Peter Lihou, said: “Steve has received particularly warm support and was our top winning professional overall. It really is quite an accomplishment for a ‘behind-the-scenes’ professional to inspire so many to get online and vote in such numbers and Steve is a very worthy winner.”