The Alcuin Society

Welcome to the Book Design Awards

Since 1981 the Alcuin Society has sponsored the only national competition for book design in Canada. Each year, a call for entries is sent out. Books published in Canada during the calendar year of competition are eligible for submission. Each title must represent the exclusive work of a Canadian book designer.

The judging of the entries takes place the following year in the spring, and the award winning books are posted to our website, showcased in an awards catalogue produced by the Alcuin Society, and exhibited national and internationally. After the exhibitions, books have been contributed to various prestigious permanent collections in Canada, England, Germany, and Japan.

Prior to 1996, the results of judging were reported in our publication Amphora, after which publication of a separate awards catalogue began. Each awards catalogue features publication details and images of each winning book, and also includes comments about the books from the judges. Since 2004, the catalogue has been published in English and French, and since 2007, the catalogue has featured a foreword from the Governor General of Canada. A select number of these catalogs are posted below in PDF format. The years displayed below refer to the calendar year of the winning publications; the catalogues themselves are produced in the following year (ie: the 2010 catalogue below was published in the summer of 2011.)

1998 Awards Catalogue 2000 Awards Catalogue      
1998 2000      
2004 Awards Catalogue 2007 Awards Catalogue      
2004 2007      
2009 Awards Catalogue      
2009 2010      
     
2011      


The Alcuin Society is proud to participate in the celebration of excellence in Canadian book design, the recognition of achievement of the designers, and the promotion of both books and culture.

Please contact Leah Gordon, Alcuin Society Design Competition Committee Chair, awards@alcuinsociety.com, 604.732-5403.


Book Design Awards 2012

Call for Entries Rules & Form

(complete PDF entry form in English and French)

 

Eligibility criteria

Books published in Canada during the year 2012 are eligible for submission. Canadian editions, co-editions and simultaneous editions are eligible; however, they must be designed and printed in Canada in their entirety to be accepted in the competition. Design students are encouraged to participate.


Categories

  • children’s
  • limited editions
  • poetry
  • prose: fiction
  • prose: non-fiction
  • prose: non-fiction – illustrated
  • pictorial, including exhibition catalogues
  • reference, including how-to, diy, cooking, travel

Each book should be assigned to one of the above categories by the publisher. However, either the Society’s Awards Committee or the judges may move a title from one category to another if, in their opinion, the book’s content and design warrant it.


General criteria

Judging is based on the suitability of design concept in relation to the intellectual nature of the content and the intended audiences. Use of colour, type, illustration and photographic styles when applicable are also considered. The stock used in the text block, as well as the jacket, binding, and overall finish are judged in the context of the book’s purpose.


Conflict of interest

If a judge has participated in the production of a book, that book should not be submitted as an entry in the current competition, but instead may be entered in the following year. Otherwise all entries must have been published in the previous calendar year to be eligible.


Awards

At the discretion of the judges, first, second, and third prizes
may be awarded in each category; ties are permitted; honourable mentions may also be awarded. A book cited for honourable mention exhibits some noteworthy feature(s) that place it, in the view of the judges, above the rest. However, the book may, as a whole, fail to sustain comparison with prize-winners in the category.

Winners will be notified as soon as possible after judging, by telephone or email, and a list of winning books will be posted on the Alcuin Society web site. Winners will be asked to provide high-resolution digital images of the cover, and spreads of their choice, in PDF form, for inclusion in the catalogue. Citations will be presented at appropriate awards ceremonies. Award winners will benefit from national and international exposure through news media, exhibitions and the Awards Catalogue, which may be viewed on the Society’s web site.


Exhibitions

Various national locations have been scheduled for exhibitions of the winning books; last year the books were exhibited in several Canadian venues. The news media will announce the winning entries. Winning books will be displayed in October 2013 at the Book Art International Exhibit at the Frankfurt Bookfair and, in March 2014, at the Leipzig Bookfair. Winning books, possibly excepting limited editions, will be Canada’s official entries in the February 2014 international book design competition in Leipzig: Best Book Design from all over the World. Publishers of winning entries will be requested to submit additional copies to allow for international exhibition commitments.

All books exhibited will be contributed to the permanent collections of the Deutsches Buch-Schriftmuseum in Leipzig (part of the National Library of Germany), the Special Collections and Rare Books Division of W.A.C. Bennett Library, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, BC), and the E.H. Norman Library, Canadian Embassy (Tokyo, Japan).


Judges
  • Marvin Harder
    Freelance book designer
    Montréal, Québec
  • Naomi MacDougall
    Freelance book designer
    Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Will Rueter
    Book designer, typographer
    Aliquando Press
    Dundas, Ontario
Submission

Send one copy of each title, accompanied by its own completed entry form. When submitting a book in multiple categories, include one copy, one entry form, and one entry fee for each category. Entrants may submit as many books in as many categories as they wish.


Limited Editions

Entries submitted in this category should be printed books in which the quality of craftsmanship, innovation or experimentation is noteworthy. Both letterpress and digital printing qualify. There is no restriction on the number of pages, and they need not be bound. There must be at least three copies produced in one edition for the project to qualify. Books created as student projects will be accepted. Books not meeting the above criteria will not be included in the competition. All submissions in the limited editions category will be returned to the entrant, with one exception. Should the entrant of a winning book wish to have their book participate in the Frankfurt and Leipzig exhibitions and the international competition in Leipzig, they must agree to donate their book to the Deutsches Buch-Schriftmuseum; due to policy changes by the organizers it is no longer possible for the Stiftung Buchkunst to return the books to Canada.


Fees

A fee of $35.00 for non-members and $30.00 for Alcuin Society members, per entry, must accompany all submissions. A discount of 15% applies if six or more titles are submitted. Entry fees are not refundable; books submitted are not returned (except limited editions, as discussed above). A cheque or money order for the total amount, payable to The Alcuin Society, must be enclosed. Your cancelled cheque will indicate receipt.


Deadline

All entries must be received by March 1, 2013.

For further information:
Leah Gordon
Telephone 604 732 5403
E-mail awards@alcuinsociety.com
www.alcuinsociety.com/awards

Please fill out the form completely. This information will appear in the catalogue and exhibit labels exactly as entered if the book is awarded a prize. Type or print entry forms clearly. Insert an entry form into each book submitted, and include your cheque for the total amount in the same package.