Alcuin Book Awards 2013 Recap - Round 2

The winners of the Alcuin Society Book Awards will be honoured on October 2 in Vancouver and October 7 in Toronto, but the competition took place way back in March. The Alcuin Society members got a chance to admire the winners' work in their own catalogues, but now it is a good time to remember why we celebrate them. Before the ceremonies start, we will present some of the awarded books at random -- it's so hard to pick and choose from all the typographic and publishing goodness. The first series can be seen here.

There were many wonderful entries in the Children's Books category, which made the judges choices all more difficult. Surprisingly, a colouring book found its way to the top: Robot Feels Sleepy, published, designed and illustrated by Jeff Kulak, got one of the two second prices. What is even more remarkable is that Jeff folded and hand-stitched each copy. The judges appreciated its originality, its clean and simple design and layout.

The first prize in the Prose Non-fiction Illustrated category went to Living the Canadian Dream: How Canadian Tire Became Canada's Store. Written by Daniel Stoffman, designed by Linda Gustafson and Peter Ross, this book is a lovely piece of corporate history. Flaunting an unusual cover, the book was commended for the great production details, particularly the headband, endpapers, and two-piece binding.

When it comes to the Prose Fiction category, the cover carries a lot of weight in the overall design than in other categories, not only due to the creative potential, but also because of the fewer alternatives in designing the content. With Y, Marjorie Celona's first novel, the judges noticed the compelling cover, but also the superior stamping on the binding, and the clean, readable text in Sabon and Didot. The book is designed by Lisa Jager, and published by Hamish Hamilton Canada.