Alcuin Society picks best-looking books of 2006

"The Alcuin Society has announced the winners of its 25th annual Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The judges (Alan Brownoff (University of Alberta Press, Edmonton), book designer, artist, and teacher; Jan Elsted (Barbarian Press, Mission, BC), letterpress printer and teacher; and Glenn Goluska (Imprimerie Dromadaire, Montreal), book designer, typographer, and letterpress printer) selected 34 winning titles from 252 entries; 96 publishers from 9 provinces participated.

The winning books will be exhibited internationally at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs, and, in Canada: in Halifax; Wolfville (NS); Montreal; Ottawa; Toronto; Edmonton; Vancouver; and Victoria (BC).

CHILDREN
First prize: ROBIN MITCHELL [Hundreds and Thousands], designer of When You Were Small by Sara O'Leary (Simply Read Books)
Second prize ANDREE LAUZON, designer of L'Envers de la chanson by Andre Leblanc (Les 400 Coups)
Honourable mentions: KAREN POWERS, designer of Casey at the Bat by Ernest L. Thayer (Kids Can Press); ROBIN MITCHELL [Hundreds and Thousands], designer of One Winter Night by Jennifer Lloyd (Simply Read Books); and ANDREE LAUZON, designer of Philou, architecte et associes by Sophie Gironnay (Les 400 Coups).

LIMITED EDITIONS
First prize: JIM ROBERTS & ROBERT MAJZELS, designer of Apikoros Sleuth by Robert Majzels (Moveable Inc.)
Second prize: DAWNA ROSE & BETSY ROSENWALD, designers of Smoking With My Mother by Dawna Rose (JackPine Press)
Third prize: JASON DEWINETZ, designer of Residual by Souvankham Thammavongsa (Greenboathouse Books)
Honourable mention: LAURENT PINABEL, designer of La Nature humaine en 36 etats by Laurent Pinabel (Les Editions de la nature humaine).

PICTORIAL
First prize: GEORGE VAITKUNAS, designer of B.C. Binning by Abraham J. Rogatnick, Ian M. Thom & Adele Weder (Douglas & McIntyre)
Second prize (tie): TOMASZ WALENTA, designer of L'Ombre du doute by Lino (Les 400 Coups); and JESSICA SULLIVAN, designer of Manawa : Pacific Heartbeat by Nigel Reading & Gary Wyatt (Douglas & McIntyre)
Third prize: PETER COCKING, designer of Arthur Erickson : Critical Works by Nicholas Olsberg & Ricardo L. Castro (Douglas & McIntyre)
Honourable mentions: GEORGE VAITKUNAS, designer of Arctic Spirit by Ingo Hessel (Douglas & McIntyre); and ROBIN MITCHELL [Hundreds and Thousands], designer of SweaterLodge by Christopher MacDonald & Greg Bellerby (Simply Read Books/BlueImprint).

POETRY *
Second prize (tie): TIM INKSTER, designer of The Book of Were by Wayne Clifford (The Porcupine's Quill); and BILL KENNEDY, designer of Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists by A. Rawlings (Coach House Books)
Third prize (tie): ANDREW STEEVES, designer of Fathom by Tim Bowling (Gaspereau Press Limited); and ANNE-MAUDE THEBERGE, designer of L'Oiseau, le vieux-port et le charpentier by Michel van Schendel (L'Hexagone)
Honourable mention: ZAB DESIGN & TYPOGRAPHY, designer of Good Meat by Dani Couture (Pedlar Press).

PROSE FICTION *
First prize JESSICA SULLIVAN, designer of A Good Death by Gil Courtemanche, translated by Wayne Grady (Douglas & McIntyre)
Third prize: KAREN KLASSEN [cover] & HEIMAT HOUSE [interior], designers of Sugar Bush by Jenn Farrell (Anvil Press)
Honourable mention: CS RICHARDSON, designer of Fabrizio's Return by Mark Frutkin (Knopf Canada).

PROSE NON-FICTION *
First prize: ANDREW STEEVES & ROBERT BRINGHURST, designers of The Tree of Meaning by Robert Bringhurst (Gaspereau Press Limited).

PROSE NON-FICTION ILLUSTRATED
First prize: PETER COCKING & NAOMI MACDOUGALL, designers of Saltwater City by Paul Yee (Douglas & McIntyre)
Second prize: ROXANA ZEGAN, designer of Mars et Avril, t.II by Martin Villeneuve (Les Editions de la Pasteque & Diesel)
Third prize: NAOMI MACDOUGALL & PETER COCKING, designers of A Canadian Saturday Night by Andrew Podnieks (Greystone Books)
Honourable mentions: ROBERTO DOSIL, designer of A Road for Canada by Daniel Francis (Stanton Atkins & Dosil); GEORGE VAITKUNAS, designer of Unsettling Encounters, by Gerta Moray (UBC Press); and ELISA GUTIERREZ, designer of Towards an Ethical Architecture by Alberto Perez-Gomez, Christopher Grabowski, Helena Grdadolnik, Jim Green & May So (Simply Read Books/BlueImprint).

REFERENCE
First prize: NAOMI MACDOUGALL & PETER COCKING, designers of Vij's : Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine by Vikram Vij & Meeru Dhalwala (Douglas & McIntyre)
Second prize: SHARON KISH, designer of Piano, Piano, Pieno by Susan McKenna Grant (HarperCollins)
Third prize: INGRID PAULSON, designer of Faces on Places by Terry Murray (House of Anansi Press)
Honourable mention: JESSICA SULLIVAN & PETER COCKING, designers of Hiking the West Coast of Trail by Tim Leadem (Greystone Books).

* Some prizes not awarded in these categories.

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 publishes a quarterly journal, Amphora, and organizes lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and field visits on various aspects of the book."

Article from: http://blogs.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/publishing