The winners narrowly beat the team from The Times into second place after a tense final round. The Independent/Evening Standard team came third.
The PEN Quiz is English PEN’s major annual fundraising event. Twenty-three teams drawn from the world of journalism, publishing and the law took part.
Penguin’s victory is the first for a publishing house since Simon & Schuster in 2010. The Daily Telegraph won back-to-back victories in 2013 and 2014.
The evening was expertly hosted by actor and comedian Omid Djalili. Writer A L Kennedy acted as raffle master. The quiz questions were set by Simon O’Hagan.
Media teams taking part included the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Independent, Political Quarterly, Private Eye, The Sunday Times and The Times. Teams from the world of publishing included Hachette UK, HarperCollins, Oneworld, Penguin Random House and the PR agency Four Colman Getty. Legal teams included 4 New Square, 5RB, 11KBW, Carter Ruck and Laura Devine Solicitors.