27th Annual Awards for
Excellence in Book Design
in Canada
2008
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007
The winning books will be shown across Canada and exhibited at the Tokyo International Book Fair in Japan, and the Frankfurt and Leipzig International Book Fairs. They will compete in the biggest annual book-design competition in the world, in Leipzig, Germany, in February 2010. Here is a summary of the results: the Society selected 32 winning titles from 243 entries, 8 provinces, and 89 publishers. The categories include: children, limited editions, pictorial, poetry, prose fiction, prose non-fiction, prose non-fiction illustrated, and reference.
Book Design Awards 2008
"Designers, illustrators, typographers, printers, writers and publishers have collaborated to bring together words, images, type, paper and binding, to express themselves in these works of art," commented Leah Gordon, Alcuin Society Board member and Design Competition Committee Chair. "All the entries demonstrate that there's nothing like the look and feel of a well-designed book."
The fundamental principle of the judging process is that each book must be considered as a total entity. The judges examine every aspect of each book, including the dust jacket, binding, endpapers, half-title page, copyright page, title page, page layout, typography, integration of illustrations, chapter openings, running heads, reproduction of illustrations, clarity of printing, choice of paper, footnotes, and bibliographical references.
This year, the judges elected not to award some prizes. There were two categories this year (Prose Non-fiction and Reference) where a First prize was not awarded. Their purpose, as is ours, is to encourage the very best in Canadian design, and they feel that giving awards only where they see exceptional merit is the best way to achieve this goal. In some categories, the judges chose to award a Fourth prize in addition to, or instead of, Honourable mention. The Alcuin Society is grateful to the judges for volunteering their time and considerable talent:
- Frank Newfeld
- Alan Stein
- E.A. Hobart (Zab)