Vancouver, BC - The Alcuin Society has announced the winners of its 27th annual Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The judges, Frank Newfeld, Alan Stein, and E.A. Hobart (Zab), selected 32 winning titles from 233 entries, 7 provinces, and 89 publishers. In some categories, the judges chose to award a Fourth prize in addition to, or instead of, Honourable mention. There were two categories this year (Prose Non-fiction and Reference) where a First prize was not awarded.
 
"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 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. This year's winners are:
 
CHILDREN
First prize: TERESA BUBELA & VLADYANA KRYKORKA, designers of The Littlest Sled Dog, by Michael Kusugak (Orca Book Publishers)
Second prize: DANIEL SYLVESTRE, designer of Ophélie, by Charlotte Gingras (Les éditions de la courte échelle)
Third prize (tie): ROBIN MITCHELL (HUNDREDS & THOUSANDS DESIGN INC.), designer of Monkey World : an A-Z of Occupations, by Matthew Porter (Simply Read Books)
Third prize (tie): ROBIN MITCHELL (HUNDREDS & THOUSANDS DESIGN INC.), designer of Where You Came From, by Sara O'Leary (Simply Read Books)
Fourth prize: PRIMEAU & BAREY, designers of Sire Hibou et Dame Chat, by Edward Lear (Dominique et compagnie).
 
LIMITED EDITIONS
First prize: SUSAN COLBERG, designer of Darkfire, by Jonathan Hart (Sean Caulfield, Susan Colberg, Jonathan Hart/University of Alberta)
Second prize (tie): MICHAEL TOROSIAN, designer of Paul Caponigro : On Prior Lane : a Firefly's Light : the Cushing Interviews, by Michael Torosian (Lumiere Press)
Second prize (tie): ED PAS, designer of Husk, by Lia Pas (JackPine Press)
Third prize (tie): BILL HORNE, designer of At Stonehenge & Avebury, by John K. Grande (Prospect Press)
Third prize (tie): FRANCES HUNTER, designer of Between Brush Strokes, by Daphne Marlatt (JackPine Press).
 
PICTORIAL
First prize: GEORGE VAITKUNAS, designer of Utopia/Dystopia : Geoffrey James, by Lori Pauli (National Gallery of Canada and Douglas & McIntyre)
Second prize: MARTIN GOULD, designer of Arctic Visions : Pictures from a Vanished World, by Fred Bruemmer (Key Porter Books)
Third prize: ANDREW STEEVES & THADDEUS HOLOWNIA, designers of Silver Ghost, by Harry Thurston (Anchorage Press)
Fourth prize: TIM INKSTER, designer of A Wood Engraver's Alphabet, by Gerard Brender à Brandis (The Porcupine's Quill).
 
POETRY
First prize: ANDREW STEEVES, designer of The House That Stands, by Stefan A. Rose (Anchorage Press)
Second prize: ANDREW STEEVES AT GASPEREAU PRESS, designer of The Muskwa Assemblage, by Don McKay (Gaspereau Press)
Third prize: MARK GOLDSTEIN, designer of Tender Buttons : Objects – Food – Rooms, by Gertrude Stein (BookThug)
Honourable mention: TIM INKSTER, designer of The Essential P.K. Page, by P.K. Page (The Porcupine's Quill).
 
PROSE FICTION
First prize: JESSICA SULLIVAN, designer of Revenant, by Tristan Hughes (Douglas & McIntyre)
Second prize: ANDREW STEEVES AT GASPEREAU PRESS, designer of That Tune Clutches My Heart, by Paul Headrick (Gaspereau Press)
Third prize: MEGAN FILDES, designer of Fear of Fighting, by Stacey May Fowles (Invisible Publishing).
 
PROSE NON-FICTION
Second prize: ANDREW STEEVES AT GASPEREAU PRESS, designer of Wisdom & Metaphor, by Jan Zwicky (Gaspereau Press)
Third prize: ANIK SEE, designer of Saudade : the Possibilities of Place, by Anik See (Coach House Books)
Fourth prize: JESSICA SULLIVAN, designer of My Natural History : the Evolution of a Gardener, by Liz Primeau (Greystone Books)
Honourable mention: JESSICA SULLIVAN, designer of Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet : in Search of a Legendary Armada, by James P. Delgado (Douglas & McIntyre).
 
PROSE NON-FICTION ILLUSTRATED
First prize: ROBERT BRINGHURST, designer of The Surface of Meaning : Books and Book Design in Canada, by Robert Bringhurst (CCSP Press / Simon Fraser University)
Second prize: TIM INKSTER, designer of Off the Wall, by Tony Urquhart (The Porcupine's Quill)
Third prize: ANDREW STEEVES AT GASPEREAU PRESS, designer of In Black & White : a Wood Engraver's Odyssey, by Wesley W. Bates (Gaspereau Press)
Fourth prize: JESSICA SULLIVAN, designer of Flight of the Hummingbird : a Parable for the Environment, by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Greystone Books)
Honourable mentions: ALAN BROWNOFF, designer of Imagining Science : Art, Science, and Social Change edited by Sean Caulfield & Timothy Caulfield (The University of Alberta Press); and
ROBIN MITCHELL (HUNDREDS & THOUSANDS DESIGN INC.), designer of Vancouver Matters, edited by James Eidse, Mari Fujita, Joey Giamo, and Christa Min.
 
REFERENCE
Second prize: NAOMI MACDOUGALL, designer of A Good Catch : Sustainable Seafood Recipes from Canada's Top Chefs, by Jill Lambert (Greystone Books).
 
The Alcuin Society (www.alcuinsociety.com) is a Vancouver-based not-for-profit society for the support and appreciation of fine books. In addition to the annual Book Design Competition, the Society publishes a quarterly journal, Amphora, and organizes lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and field visits on various aspects of the book.
 
For more information, please contact Leah Gordon, Alcuin Society Design Competition Committee Chair, , 604 732 5403.