Vellum Star 2025 Award Winner List
2025 Award Winners
Business Strategy, Theory & Commentary
GOLD
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
(Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster)
Silver
How Progress Ends by Carl Benedikt Frey
(Princeton University Press)
Bronze
Breakneck by Dan Wang
(W. W. Norton & Company)
Economics & Markets
GOLD
Chokepoints by Edward Fishman
(Portfolio)
Silver
1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin
(Viking)
Bronze
How Countries Go Broke by Ray Dalio
(Avid Reader Press)
Career Development & Workplace Success
GOLD
All the Cool Girls Get Fired by Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill
(Gallery Books)
Silver
Smart Careers by Jess Annison
(Bloomsbury Business)
Bronze
The Career Edge by Kaushik Mitra
(Penguin Business)
Sales, Negotiation & Customer Growth
GOLD
Never Ask for the Sale by Sue Heilbronner
(Balance)
Silver
Outgrow by Alex Goldfayn
(Matt Holt Books)
Bronze
A Story Is a Deal by Will Storr
(Little, Brown Book Group)
Leadership & Organizational Culture
GOLD
Reset by Dan Heath
(Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster)
Silver
Strong Ground by Brené Brown
(Random House)
Bronze
The Win-Win Workplace by Angela Jackson
(Berrett-Koehler Publishers)
Business Communication & Networking
GOLD
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows by Steven Pinker
(Scribner)
Silver
A Story Is a Deal by Will Storr
(Little, Brown Book Group)
Bronze
The Storyteller’s Advantage
by Christina Farr
(Basic Venture)
Business Ethics & Responsible Leadership
GOLD
No More Tears by Gardiner Harris
(Random House)
Silver
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
(Flatiron Books)
Bronze
Empire of AI by Karen Hao
(Penguin Press)
Innovation & Business Transformation
GOLD
The Creative Shift by Andrew Robertson
(Basic Venture)
Silver
How Progress Ends by Carl Benedikt Frey
(Princeton University Press)
Bronze
Reset by Dan Heath
(Avid Reader Press)
Operations & Organizational Growth
GOLD
Reset by Dan Heath
(Avid Reader Press)
Silver
Make Work Fair by Iris Bohnet & Siri Chilazi
(Harper Business)
Bronze
The Octopus Organization by Phil Le-Brun & Jana Werner
(Harvard Business Review Press)
Human Resources & Talent Development
GOLD
The Win-Win Workplace by Angela Jackson
(Berrett-Koehler Publishers)
Silver
Evolving the Employee Experience edited by Rose Mueller-Hanson
(Oxford University Press)
Bronze
Human Resource Management for Organisational Success Volume I by Neema Gupta and Ashish K. Gupta
(Palgrave Macmillan)
Entrepreneurship & Small Business
GOLD
The Sweaty Startup by Nick Huber
(Harper Business)
Silver
What’s Your Dream? by Simon Squibb
(Crown Currency)
Bronze
The Storypreneur’s Playbook by Prateek Roy Chowdhury & Nitin Babel
(Penguin Business)
Sustainability, Nonprofit & Social Impact
GOLD
Consumed by Saabira Chaudhuri (Blink Publishing)
Silver
For the World’s Profit by Homi Kharas
(Brookings Institution Press)
Bronze
Reaping What She Sows by Nancy Matsumoto
(Melville House)
International Business & Global Markets
GOLD
Apple in China by Patrick McGee
(Scribner)
Silver
Our Dollar, Your Problem by Kenneth Rogoff
(Yale University Press)
Bronze
How Progress Ends by Carl Benedikt Frey
(Princeton University Press)
Finance, Investing & Wealth Management
GOLD
1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin
(Viking)
Silver
How Not to Invest by Barry Ritholtz
(Harriman House)
Bronze
The Second Estate by Ray D. Madoff
(University of Chicago Press)
Business Technology, AI & Future Trends
GOLD
The Thinking Machine by Stephen Witt
(Viking)
Silver
Empire of AI by Karen Hao
(Penguin Press)
Bronze
The Technological Republic by Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska
(Crown Currency)
Professional Growth, Coaching & Performance
GOLD
The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom
(Ballantine Books)
Silver
The Price of Nice by Amira Barger
(Berrett-Koehler Publishers)
Bronze
The Nurturing Quotient by Nirupama Subramanian & Rajesh Ramakrishnan
(Penguin Business)
Marketing, Advertising, Branding & PR
GOLD
The Storyteller’s Advantage by Christina Farr
(Basic Venture)
Silver
A Story Is a Deal by Will Storr
(Little, Brown Book Group)
Bronze
The Future of Storytelling by Charles Melcher
(Artisan)
Corporate History & Legacy
GOLD
House of Huawei by Eva Dou
(Portfolio)
Silver
No More Tears by Gardiner Harris
(Random House)
Bronze
Bag Man by Lew Frankfort
(Harvard Business Review Press)
Real Estate Business & Investment
GOLD
Stuck by Yoni Appelbaum
(Random House)
Silver
Smarter Short-Term Rentals by Avery Carl
(BiggerPockets Publishing)
Bronze
Commercial Real Estate Investing
by Randall Zisler, Ph.D.
Business Reference, Legal & How-To
GOLD
Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, 19th Edition
by Editors of Nolo
(Nolo)
Silver
Business Law The Ethical, Global, and Digital Environment
by Jamie Darin Prenkert
(McGraw Hill)
Bronze
Artificial Intelligence and Taxation Law by Enrico Gallo
(Routledge)
Business Memoir & Biography
GOLD
Source Code My Beginnings by Bill Gates
(Alfred A. Knopf)
Silver
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
(Flatiron Books)
Bronze
Bag Man by Lew Frankfort
(Harvard Business Review Press)
Business Narrative & Fable
GOLD
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Flatiron Books)
Silver
The Optimist by Keach Hagey
(W. W. Norton)
Bronze
Charlatans by Moisés Naím & Quico Toro
(Basic Books)
Productivity, Time Management & Work-Life Balance
GOLD
Digital Exhaustion by Paul Leonardi
(Riverhead Books)
Silver
The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom
(Ballantine Books)
Bronze
The Hustle Cure by Sophie Cliff
(Blue Star Press)
Audiobook – Business
GOLD
The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher
(Penguin Audio)
Silver
How Countries Go Broke by Ray Dalio
(Simon & Schuster Audio)
Bronze
The Sweaty Startup by Nick Huber
(HarperAudio)