Long-time Medinge member and co-chair Jack Yan ghost-wrote Panos: My Life, My Odyssey, which won a Highly Commended in the Business Journey category at the Business Book Awards in London on May 16.
      While the book is ostensibly swimwear designer Panos Papadopoulos’s autobiography, it contains numerous lessons on business, marketing and branding.
      Literary agent and publishing coordinator Jacq Burns, former commissioning editor at Random House and editorial director at Harper Collins (where she edited Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus; Who Moved My Cheese?; Chicken Soup for the Soul; and Toddler Taming), led the judging panel, which comprised an additional 42 experts.
      The judges wrote, ‘Panos is the rags-to-riches story of a man from a small village in Greece whose entrepreneurial drive led him to build a multi-million-dollar luxury swimwear empire. The book is a real page-turner, with Panos & Jack expertly building anticipation to what happens next as the story gains momentum. What the judges felt made Panos particularity [sic] special is that it doesn’t preach to the reader but provides subtle lessons of success that can be applied to sectors beyond fashion. The judges loved reading Panos but will leave the Speedos to the authors!’