Cover stories: Musical chairs, Orange Prize

*Publishing is suffering one of its periodic bouts of musical chairs, which serves to highlight a lack of ripe talent at middle-management level. To be sure, there are plenty of young editors making their mark, and no shortage of heavyweight senior figures. But there is arguably a paucity of thirtysomethings with the ability to run lists and manage people – a talent gap caused in part by the lure of hi-tech jobs in the Nineties. HarperCollins has been seeking a children's publisher for some time and, now, the departure of Val Hudson – the woman who created Pamela Stephenson's Billy and nurtured it into the bestseller lists – presents MD Amanda Ridout with another headache. Hudson has been lured to Headline, whence Ridout came a year ago, to run their non-fiction (much of it, of course, celebrity-driven). But as Macmillan (Bruce Forsyth) and Little, Brown (Anthea Turner) could testify, it takes more than a so-called name to make such books a success. Hudson, whose talents go beyond mere celebrity publishing, is without equal. Headline, meanwhile, has yet to appoint a MD. Finally, there is the question of a successor to Peter Straus at Picador, a job for which every editor in town with any vestigial street cred is said to be in line. Even if that role is separated from that of Macmillan editor-in-chief, MD David North's task is not an easy one. Few would disagree that Picador has lost its focus.

*The Orange Prize has been with us for the better part of a decade, helping to shape careers (Helen Dunmore's and Linda Grant's were both boosted by their wins). This year, Sarah Waters' Fingersmith may have been hot favourite but few are carping about the choice of Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. Orange has also led the way in organising work-place reading groups and community events, and will next year launch a translation prize. Meanwhile, on campuses, a series of Orange/Index on Censorship debates will raise awareness of writers in countries that do not enjoy freedom of speech. All very adult. So why can't the Orange Prize ceremony grow up? This year the difficult acoustics of Covent Garden's Floral Hall and a bad PA system added to the usual tricksiness. Stilt walkers dressed as giant condoms and waiters in tight leather shorts merely suggest that Orange has more money than sense. Denise Lewis, the company's director of corporate affairs, should rid next year's ceremony of the elements that reduce it to the level of a C5 game show.