The Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada

Very soon the winners of the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada will be chosen from among 230 entries from 106 contributors that include publishers, book designers and authors. This year the three judges are Jessica Sullivan, creative director at Figure 1 Publishing, Susan Colberg, Associate Professor of Visual Communication Design at the University of Alberta, and Seth, cartoonist, designer and collector.


Jessica Sullivan is one of the best Canadian book designers whose credentials include no less than 36 Alcuin Awards and a CBA Libris Award for Book Design of the Year, so she definitely knows what makes a winning book. Her original focus on layout and typography is what makes her work stand out.

Seth's success started with the comic book series Palookaville. His work appeared in New York Times Magazine, Best American Comics, McSweeneys Quarterly, on the cover of the New Yorker and Canadian Notes and Queries. His cartoons have been exhibited all over the world.

Susan Colberg's areas of expertise include visual communication design, typography and book design. She has experience as both a design award winner and judge on juries for the Association of American University Presses and the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada among others.




The categories in which the Alcuin Awards winners will be selected are: Children's Books, Limited Editions, Poetry, Pictorial, Prose Fiction, Prose Non-fiction, Prose Non-fiction Illustrated, and Reference. The judges will carefully consider each and every book submitted, taking in all the details from colour, layout and typography, to how these elements come together and complement the subject of the book. For more details about the eligibility criteria and the judging process, please visit our Awards page. The winners will be announced in a few days, when we also have a pleasant surprise: the launch of the new, redesigned Alcuin website, which will bring a great improvement in information organization, navigation and design.