2025 Alcuin Award Winners Announced

eFor immediate release

The Alcuin Society is pleased to announce the winners of the 43rd Annual Competition for Awards For Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The judging to determine the winners took place on Saturday, February 28, 2026 at the Hazel McCallion Campus of Sheridan College in Mississauga, Ontario. The Alcuin Society is grateful for the hospitality that Sheridan College has shown us. The judges were Jason Dewinetz of Vernon, British Columbia, Mark Goldstein and Gilbert Li., both of Toronto, Ontario. The judges examined and discussed 209 books from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and made 34 Awards in nine categories. (Further details below the list)

The Winners: (Designer; Publisher; Book Title)

Children’s picture books / Livres illustrés pour enfants

First (tie) John Martz; Tundra Books; The Little Ghost Quilt's Winter Surprise

First (tie) Sophie Paas-Lang; Tundra Books;The Newest Gnome

Second: Howie Shia; Annick Press; Ra! Ta! Ma! Cue!

Third: Andrew Dupuis; Kids Can Press; Unnaturally Blue

Honourable Mention: John Martz; Tundra Books; Words with Wings and Magic Things

Comics / Bandes dessinées

First (tie) Lee Lai, Lucia Gargiulo, Tracy Hurren; Drawn & Quarterly; Cannon

First (tie) Michael DeForge, Megan Tan, Tom Devlin; Drawn & Quarterly; Holy Lacrimony

Second: Zoé Jusseret, Thierry van Hasselt; Conundrum Press; About The Little Ones

Third : Laurent Pinabel; Les Éditions Stanké; La bête à sa mère: Le roman graphique

Limited Editions / Éditions à tirage limité

Honourable Mention: Bennett Bedoukian; O Underworld! Press; A Herald Came Calling

Honourable Mention: Anthony Geer; Conversation Tree Press; Solaris

Honourable Mention: Anthony Geer; Conversation Tree Press; The House on the Borderland

Honourable Mention: Victoria Wai Kei Li; Victoria Wai Kei Li; tethered

Pictorial / Beaux livres

First: Sonja Zagermann; Canadian Centre for Architecture and M Books; How Modern: Biographies of Architecture in China 1949 – 1979

Second (tie) Claire Dawson; The Advertising and Design Club of Canada; Archive / Recollection: 75 Years of the Advertising and Design Club of Canada

Second (tie) Lara Minja; Goose Lane Editions and Art Gallery of Ontario; David Blackwood: Myth & Legend

Third (tie) Matthias Kreutzer with David Diaz Méndez; École de design de l'UQAM; État Des Lieux: École De Designs 50 Ans

Third (tie) Matthias Kreutzer; Free Pony Press; Blur

Honourable Mention: Teresa Bubela; Figure 1 Publishing; Richard Johnson: Resilience — Ice Huts and Root Cellars (2007–2021)

Poetry / Poésie

First: Jayme Spinks; Nevermore Press / Copy Shop Books; piyyut

Second: Feed; les éditions du passage; Les visages de Rembrandt

Third:  Crystal Sikma, Eric Schmaltz; Coach House Books; I Confess

Honourable Mention: Natalie Olsen; Athabasca University Press; My Works, Ye Mighty

Prose: Fiction / Romans et nouvelles

Second: Talia Abramson; Alchemy by Knopf Canada; Solitaria: A Novel

Third (tie): Sebastian Frye; Scribner Canada; The Sapling

Third (tie): Terri Nimmo; Random House Canada; Wolf, Moon, Dog: A novel

Prose: Illustrated / Études, essais et romans illustrés

Second: Lara Minja; McGill-Queen's University Press; Ornament and Symbol in French Romantic Architecture: Simon-Claude Constant-Dufeux

Third: Setareh Ashrafologhalai; Heritage House; Hidden Flowers: A Memoir

Prose: Nonfiction / Études et essais

First: Kate Sinclair; Penguin Canada; A Steady Brightness of Being: Truths, Wisdom, and Love from Celebrated Indigenous Voices

Second: Jennifer Griffiths; Strange Light; Story of Your Mother

Honourable Mention: Alan Brownoff; University of Alberta Press; The Postcolonial Bildungsroman: Narratives of Youth, Representational Politics, and Aesthetic Reinventions

Reference  / Ouvrages de référence

Second: Teresa Bubela; Figure 1 Publishing and Museum of Anthropology at UBC; Sea of Islands: Exploring Objects, Stories, and Memories from Oceania

Third: Jessica Sullivan; Figure 1 Publishing; IN GOOD HEALTH: Uncomplicated, Allergen-Aware Recipes for a Nourished Life

Honourable Mention: Naomi MacDougall; Figure 1 Publishing; Perch: Soil • Land • Sea — A Cookbook

Some Further Notes

The Alcuin Society received 209 books for the consideration of the judges. The books came from 79 publishers located in all 10 provinces. The books represent the work of 140 different designers. The Alcuin Society is gratified with this widespread support for this program. It demonstrates that it has meaning to the community of book designers and publishers and those interested in the arts of the book and that it has an impact across the country.

In evaluating the submissions for this competition, the judges looked for books demonstrating a high level of attention to typographic detail and overall design. Consideration was also given to materials, production quality, and any creative elements that were appropriate to the work. In categories where no podium placement was awarded, the judges determined that one or more of these criteria were not met at the level expected in these submissions.

Artifical Intelligence (AI)

One prior question in the mind of the Alcuin Society was the extent of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the design of books and how the judges ought to take the use of AI into account. Accordingly, the entry form required the disclosure of any use of AI in the design of the books and the also requested that specific details of the use be provided. It was found to be a non-issue. Two different designers of only two books of the 209 submitted books used AI. The actual use was trivial and had no impact on the result when the judges considered the design of these books.

The Alcuin Society will publish later this year a full colour catalogue of this year’s winning books to provide a permanent record of tis competition. It also organizes the exhibition of these books across Canada. These books will join the permanent collection of winning books held at the W. A. C. Bennett Library of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. In addition, a set of the winning books are sent to Stiftung Buchkunst in Germany who organizes the exhibition of these books at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Leipzig Book Fair and where they are Canada’s entries in the international design competition held in Leipzig. These books are afterwards held Deutsches Buch-Schriftmuseum

The Alcuin Society is a non-profit society and Canada’s only national organization devoted to all of the book arts. It has been holding this competition on an annual basis since 1981. The Alcuin Society funds all aspects of the design competition program only partially from the entry fees. The remainder comes from its membership fees and donations from individuals. It receives no support from any levels of government or any arts council.

Further information can be found at www.alcuinsociety.com. The writer can be contacted at chester@alcuinsociety.com  or 416-580-7663

Chester Gryski
Chair, Alcuin Society
Awards For Excellence In Book Design in Canada