The 2025 Jack Covert Award for Contribution to the Business Book Industry
The 2025 Jack Covert Award was awarded to Lynn Goldberg & Camille McDuffie, of Goldberg McDuffie Communications, at Porchlight Book Company’s Annual Book Awards and Industry Appreciation Event in New York City.
Lynn Goldberg spent her professional life connecting writers with readers and bringing authors to the attention of the public. Before opening her own company in 1981, she was Publicity Director of Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Pantheon Books, and was Associate Director of Publicity for Random House. Among the authors she worked with are Ron Chernow, Susan Sontag, Harold Bloom, Alan Greenspan, Jerome Groopman, Arlie Hochschild, Susan Isaacs, Ian Bremmer, Nicole Krauss, John Lahr, Peter Peterson, Jodi Picoult, Roxana Robinson, Dava Sobel, Maurice Sendak, Joseph Stiglitz, and E.O. Wilson. She worked with the PEN Writers Festival, has served on the board of Poets & Writers, and on the advisory boards of the Friends Program of the New York Public Library, The New School’s MFA program in Creative Writing, the Advisory Council for Literacy Partners, and the Jerusalem International Book Fair.
Camille McDuffie joined Lynn Goldberg Communications in 1987, six years after its founding. A decade later, in 1997, the name of the company was changed to Goldberg McDuffie Communications.
Camille has handled the campaigns for authors such as Harold Bloom, Jodi Picoult, Barry Lopez, Maria Shriver, Alice Hoffman, Art Spiegelman, Ellen Galinsky, and Jack Welch. She represented The Library of America, The National Book Awards, and The Whiting Writers’ Awards. In 2014, she became the inaugural publisher of Columbia Global Reports, a nonprofit publishing imprint from Columbia University that commissions authors to produce works of original thinking and on-site reporting from all over the world on a wide range of topics, offering new ways of looking at and understanding the major issues of our time in novella-length books, readable in just a few hours. Camille’s career reflects a commitment to fostering informed dialogue and enriching the understanding of ideas that matter to contemporary society.
In addition to the books and authors they worked with, Goldberg and McDuffie built a culture of independence and project ownership that launched many of today’s great PR firms.
Jack Covert built Porchlight to be a connective tissue in the business book industry. Goldberg and McDuffie did the same at the firm that bore their name, and for that reason, we know Jack would be pleased that Lynn and Camille are finally receiving his eponymous award for their enormous contribution.
We reached out to three alumni of Goldberg McDuffie, all of whom are carrying out the important work of connection, for their thoughts.
“Lynn Goldberg and Camille McDuffie built not just a PR firm for authors, but an institution for smart ideas and extraordinary books. When the late 1990s were upon them, and business books began to come in the door, they were quick to recognize both the importance of the category and the need for different strategies to make these titles successful. I am so grateful for their stewardship in the business books space and personally grateful to call them both mentors and friends.”
—Barbara Cave Henricks, president and founder of Cave Henricks Communications
"When the business books boom of the 1990s and 2000s hit, CEOs flocked to Goldberg McDuffie Communications to promote their books because they wanted the best and they wanted a professional agency experience. Like the best of these famous CEOs, she could manage a team to bring out their best, elevate client service to an art form, set high goals and standards, commit to excellence and results and match or surpass their strategic thinking. It also didn't hurt that she could hobnob with the powerful like no one else, while looking fabulous in a Chanel power suit.
No matter what type of book Camille McDuffie launched, her media results were the biggest of the big due to her gorgeously written pitches, mastery of the phone back when publicists used the phone, her natural talent at relationship building and empathy and her knack for building a campaign and even an author's readership over the long term. Many authors who remain famous today were built inch by inch by Camille. We all looked up to Camille for so many reasons. At a time when every other business book seems to be about work life balance, Camille was the ultimate role model for us all in delivering top-tier work, while always getting home in time to be with her kids. She was a great mom at home and a great mom to us all in the office."
—Mark Fortier, founder and president of Fortier Public Relations
It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that Lynn Goldberg and Camille McDuffie have mentored and launched more book publicists than any other PR duo in publishing. And this is doubly true when it comes to publicists specializing in business books.
Those of us lucky enough to graduate from “Goldberg McDuffie University” already know about their deep contacts in the media and in publishing, and their prescient instincts when choosing projects and authors to represent. Goldberg McDuffie was also the first firm that made a concerted effort to develop and grow an expertise in publicizing business books. This was a game-changer for the company, and spoke directly to the new ways business books were being published and promoted in the industry.
Their knowledge, experience, contributions, and flair can’t be replicated, but they can be appreciated. How wonderful that the Jack Covert Award is going to Lynn Goldberg and Camille McDuffie.
—Angela Bagetta, Owner, Angela Baggetta Communications
We couldn’t agree more, Angela, and we were thrilled to see Lynn Goldberg and Camille McDuffie receive The Jack Covert Award this evening.
