The Alcuin Society announced the winners of the 43rd Alcuin Society’s Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada last month. A total of 209 submissions from 79 Canadian publishers were considered. The jury was comprised of Jason Dewinetz, Mark Goldstein and Gilbert Li.
The winners and honourable mention in the children's picture books category are listed below.
Children's Picture Books
First Place (tie):
John Martz, designer of The Little Ghost Quilt's Winter Surprise, written by Riel Nason, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler (Tundra Books)
Sophie Paas-Lang, designer of The Newest Gnome, written and illustrated by Lauren Soloy (Tundra Books)
Second Place:
Howie Shia, designer of Ra! Ta! Ma! Cue!, written and illustrated by Howie Shia (Annick Press)
Third Place:
Andrew Dupuis, designer of Unnaturally Blue, written by Dorson Plourde, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler (Kids Can Press)
John Martz was also named a honourable mention for his design work on Words with Wings and Magic Things, by the American duo of author Matthew Burgess and illustrator Doug Salati (Tundra Books).
In addition to book exhibits across Canada, these books will join the permanent collection of winning books held at the W. A. C. Bennett Library of Simon Fraser University. A set of the winning books are sent to Stiftung Buchkunst in Germany who organizes the exhibition of these books at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Leipzig Book Fair and where they are Canada’s entries in the international design competition held in Leipzig. These books are afterwards held Deutsches Buch-Schriftmuseum.
For the complete list of 2025 winners, visit alcuinsociety.com.