2024 Alcuin Awards Ceremony in Toronto
The Awards Ceremony in Toronto for the 42nd competition for Awards For Excellence in Book Design in Canada took place on October 20, 2025, at the Arts & Letters Club in Toronto. This is a joint event with the Arts & Letters Club and is the 19th year that this joint event has been held.
There were 17 designers who designed 21 of the winning books:
Christian Salette (Hemingway c’st paqueté la fraise: et autre cocktails originaux)
Jessica Sullivan (Taizo Yamamoto: Carts, Hedges, Lions and San Diego Cooks: Recipes from the Region’s Favorite Eateries, Bakeries, and Bars)
Naomi MacDougall (Canadian Photographs: Geoffrey James and San Diego Cooks: Recipes from the Region’s Favorite Eateries, Bakeries, and Bars)
Anthony Geer (Treasure Island)
Mark Goldstein (cipher)
Maxime Rheault (La chasse interdite and Les forces du sommeil - cohabitations des vivants: Manif d’art 11: la biennale de Québec)
François Martin (Gathered Leaves: Discoveries from the Drawings Vault / Feuille à feuille: La collection de dessins dévoilée)
John Martz (A Face Is a Poem and The Gulf)
Sophie Paas-Lang (Towed by Toad)
Kate Sinclair (A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada and Prairie Edge)
Sara Gillingham (Mushrooms Know: Wisdom From Our Friends, the Fungi)
Barb Kelly (Mad at Dad)
Mathew Flute (Batshit Seven)
Noël Nanton (He Hijacked My Brain: Gary Topp’s Toronto)
Nadia Molinari (He Hijacked My Brain: Gary Topp’s Toronto)
Publisher representing the designer:
David Fernández [for David Moratto] (Women on the Move: An Exhibition of Travel Books)
Colleague Representing the Designer:
Talia Abramson representing Kelly Hill (The Side Gardener: Recipes & Notes from My Garden)
Also in attendance were 2 of the judges, Donna Braggins and Bryan Gee. From Sheridan College which provided the facilities for the judging and will do so next year were Gabriel Levine, Associate Dean, School of Humanities and Creativity, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences and Joan Sweeney Marsh, a Vice President. The President of the Arts & Letters Club, Daphne Maurer and other members of the Club were there as well. The total attendance was 71 people.
The books were on display before and after dinner, and the room where they were was crowded with people looking at the books and chatting. Assisting our chair, Chester Gryski, in handing out the certificates was Don McLeod, Alcuin member and past president of the Arts & Letters.
The Speaker for the evening was Gilbert Li, RGD, who won Alcuin Design Awards in 1998 and 2007. He is an acclaimed graphic designer with over 30 years of experience. Gilbert Li is especially recognized for his portfolio of over 100 books—from artist monographs and exhibition catalogues to literary anthologies. In 2004, he founded The Office of Gilbert Li, leading design teams working with a discerning clientele of museums. publishers, cultural organizations and non-profits. After 20 years of operating as a full-service design studio, The Office of Gilbert Li is now the moniker of his solo practice focused on book projects. He spoke about working with artists in the design of art books in a talk titled “Making Art While Making Artbooks”.
Photos courtesy of Don McLeod
Photos by Chester Gryski
