Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada

The Alcuin Society has announced the winners of its 31st annual Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada.

The winning books will be exhibited in Germany at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs; in Japan, at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, in conjunction with the Tokyo International Book Fair; and, in Canada, in nine provinces. Exhibition venues will be posted on the Alcuin Society website. The books will also be entered in the international book design competition in Leipzig, Germany in February 2014.

Awards will be given out this fall in both Toronto and Vancouver.

This year's judges, Marvin Harder, Naomi MacDougall, and William Rueter, selected 41 winning titles from 236 entries, from nine provinces and 112 publishers; Mr. Rueter was presented with the 6th Robert R. Reid Award and Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Book Arts in Canada.

This year's book design winners are:

Children 

First prize (tie):
Teresa Bubela, designer of Doors in the Air, by David Weale (Orca Book Publishers);
Sara Gillingham, designer of Everyone Eats, by Julia Kuo (Simply Read Books);
Second prize (tie):
Jeff Kulak, designer of Robot Feels Sleepy, by Patryk Stasieczek & Jeff Kulak (Self-published);
Sara Gillingham, designer of Lily Loves, by Kai Lüftner (Simply Read Books);
Third prize:
Robin Mitchell Cranfield, designer of When I Was Small, by Sara O’Leary (Simply Read Books);
Honourable mentions:
Jessica Sullivan, designer of Big City Bees, by Maggie de Vries (Greystone Books), and
Teresa Bubela, designer of Uncle Wally’s Old Brown Shoe, by Wallace Edwards (Orca Book Publishers).

Limited Editions

First prize:
Susan Colberg, designer of The Waiting Room, by Jonathan Locke Hart (University of Alberta);
Second prize:
Jason Dewinetz, designer of First Principles of Typography, by Stanley Morison (Greenboathouse Press);
Third prize:
Margaret Lock, designer of Deor’s Lament [Anonymous], translated by Fred Lock (Locks’ Press);
Honourable mention:
Larry Thompson, Natasha Herman & Holly Dean, designers of Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey … , by William Wordsworth (Greyweathers Press).

Pictorial

First prize (tie):
Stefan Canuel, designer of Garry Neill Kennedy: Printed Matter/Imprimés 1971-2009, by Peter Trepanier (National Gallery of Canada); and
Bradbury Branding & Design, designers of Hansen-Ross Pottery, by Heather Smith, Julia Krueger & Alan C. Elder (Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery);
Second prize (tie):
Alan Brownoff, designer of Canadian Folk Art to 1950, by John A. Fleming & Michael J. Rowan (The University of Alberta Press & Canadian Museum of Civilization);and
Mark Timmings (Timmings & Debay), designer of Group Search/Memory Palace, edited by Lorna Brown & Karen Love (City of Vancouver, Doryphone Independent Curators & Other Sights for Artists’ Projects Association);
Third prize:
Underline Studio, designers of Arnaud Maggs: Identification, by Joseé Drouin-Brisebois (National Gallery of Canada);
Honourable mentions:
Tim Inkster, designer of Out of the Wood, by Rosemary Kilbourn (The Porcupine’s Quill),and
Jessica Sullivan, designer of Selwyn Pullan: Photographing Mid-Century West Coast Modernism, by Kiriko Watanabe … [et al.] (Douglas & McIntyre & West Vancouver Museum).

Poetry

First prize:
Andrew Steeves, designer of Handfuls of Bone, by Monica Kidd (Gaspereau Press Printers & Publishers);
Second prize:
Andrew Steeves, designer of Black, by George Elliott Clarke (Gaspereau Press Printers & Publishers);
Third prize (tie):
Zab Design & Typography, designer of Post-Apothecary, by Sandra Ridley (Pedlar Press);and
Carleton Wilson, designer of Wedding in Fire Country, by Darren Bifford (Nightwood Editions);
Honourable mentions:
Mark Goldstein, designer of Form of Forms, by Mark Goldstein (BookThug), and
Feed, designers of Fragments de nuit, by Jean-Pierre Gaudreau (les éditions du passage).

Prose Fiction

First prize:
Andrew Steeves, designer of Love and the Mess We’re In, by Stephen Marche (Gaspereau Press Printers & Publishers);
Second prize (tie):
CS Richardson, designer of The Blondes, by Emily Schultz (Doubleday Canada);
Brian Morgan, designer of People Park, by Pasha Malla (House of Anansi Press);
Third prize (tie):
Jessica Sullivan, designer of A Matter of Life and Death or Something, by Ben Stephenson (Douglas & McIntyre);
Lisa Jager, designer of Y, by Marjorie Celona (Hamish Hamilton Canada);
Honourable mentions:
Ingrid Paulson & Alana Wilcox, designers of Maidenhead, by Tamara Faith Berger (Coach House Books), and
Kelly Hill & Terri Nimmo, designers of The Emperor of Paris, by CS Richardson (Doubleday Canada).

Prose Non-Fiction

First prize (tie):
Chyla Cardinal, designer of Little Black Lies: Corporate & Political Spin in the Global War for Oil, by Jeff Gailus (Rocky Mountain Books);and
Peter Cocking & Heather Pringle, designers of The Energy of Slaves: Oil and the New Servitude, by Andrew Nikiforuk (Greystone Books);
Second prize (tie):
Andrew Steeves, designer of Lazy Bastardism: Essays & Reviews on Contemporary Poetry, by Carmine Starnino (Gaspereau Press Printers & Publishers);and
Jessica Sullivan, designer of The Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC, by Richard Stursberg (Douglas & McIntyre).

Prose Non-Fiction Illustrated

First prize:
Linda Gustafson & Peter Ross (Counterpunch Inc.), designers of Living the Canadian Dream: How Canadian Tire Became Canada’s Store, by Daniel Stoffman (Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd.);
Second prize:
Alan Brownoff, designer of Game Plan: A Social History of Sport in Alberta, by Karen L. Wall (The University of Alberta Press);
Honourable mention:
Brandon Bergem & Nicole Hunt, designers of Warehouse Journal vol. 21 by Brandon Bergem & Nicole Hunt (The Warehouse Journal, The University of Manitoba).

Reference

First prize:
Multiple [formerly Atelier Louis-Charles Lasnier], designers of The Musée d’art de Joliette: Guide to the Collection, edited by Gaëtane Verna; contributors, Magalie Bouthillier … [et al.] (Musée d’art de Joliette);
Honourable mentions:
Jessica Sullivan, designer of Afternoon Tea, by Muriel Moffatt (Douglas & McIntyre), and
Peter Cocking, designer of Rob Feenie’s Casual Classics, by Rob Feenie (Douglas & McIntyre).

The Alcuin Society (http://www.alcuinsociety.com) is a Vancouver based non-profit society for the support and appreciation of fine books. In addition to the annual book design competition, the Society awards The Robert R. Reid Award and Medal, for lifetime achievement in the book arts in Canada. It also publishes a journal, Amphora, and organizes lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and field visits on various aspects of the book.