Stiftung Buchkunst Competition
2010 STIFTUNG BUCHKUNST INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION: A CALL FOR ENTRIES
BACKGROUND
Marquand Books is the US coordinator for “Best Book Design from All Over the World,” Stiftung Buchkunst’s prestigious book design competition and exhibition. We solicit nominations, narrow them down to approximately twenty submissions, and submit them to the committee in Leipzig, where they will compete against hundreds of other books from dozens of countries. After several days of rigorous jurying by international design and publishing professionals, the grand prize winner is selected, with honorable mentions for the runners up. All of the juried books entered in the competition are displayed to the public at the Leipzig Book Fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair, and many other popular national shows around Europe. After the exhibitions, the submissions are housed in a special collection at the German National Library in Frankfurt.
Many of the thirty-plus countries participating in the competition will enter with the support of a national book design or publishing organization, which follow an established jurying procedure. In the US, we do not have a comparable organization, so ours is a much less formal process. (AIGA used to participate but dropped out many years ago for various logistical reasons.)
Marquand Books decided to take on this task a decade ago so that American book design would be well represented each year in the most important exhibition of its kind. We do this gratis, and absorb the substantial shipping charges to send the final selection of books to Germany. But it is worth the effort, especially if the entries we submit are up to the challenges of the competition.
GOING FORWARD
In an effort to improve the overall quality of American entries, we are modifying the nomination process for all 2010 submissions. Instead of inviting designers to submit their own work as we usually do, this year we are asking design and publishing professionals to submit their choices for the best-designed books published in 2009. We welcome and value your opinions as working professionals in this field to help us seek out the very best that American book design has to offer.
The process is simple: select a book and send us the title, name of the author, and the publisher. Entries can only have been published in the United States in 2009. Additionally, you can include a short statement about why the book should be considered, but please be aware that this will only be noted by the American selection committee, not the final competition jurors. We will review the nominations, contact the publishers for review copies, jury the selection with a select group of design and publishing professionals, and send the final choices on to the competition in Germany.
Here are some suggestions to help with your submission:
—In the past, American entries have been over-represented by art books, and they don’t usually fare well in the competition. Most of the other countries submit books from many disciplines, published for a broad range of audiences: cookbooks, children’s books, literature, poetry, textbooks, technical and reference books, illustrated nonfiction, sports, photography, interior design, science, illustrated history, how-to books, and fashion. As design professionals, we should try to think more about recognizing distinctive design work beyond the most obvious genres and glamorous publications.
—The competition does not have a separate category for covers or jackets, so it is important that the book’s interior and exterior are both equally extraordinary for it to be nominated.
—High production values do not automatically win over the jury. Many of the award winners in past years were modestly produced but imaginatively executed publications. That being said, a poorly printed and bound book will obviously also not make a good impression.
—Please make sure your nominated book is not Canadian or British, as those countries have their own submission committees.
—Handmade and artist books are not appropriate for this competition; it is for manufactured books only.
HISTORY OF THE COMPETITION
Stiftung Buchkunst was founded in 1965, emerging from the Sammlung Buchkunst, an organization of the German National Library focused on collecting books with aesthetic designs. Today, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, the German National Library, and the cities of Frankfurt and Leipzig unite to sponsor and promote the foundation. The main goal of the foundation is the critical surveillance of the bookmaking trade with the objective of maintaining and improving the quality of book design.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Stiftung Buchkunst hosts the exhibition “Book Art International” at the Frankfurt Book Fair each autumn. Prizewinning books from approximately thirty countries are presented, organized according to category. The exhibition allows both experts and the general public to become acquainted with the technical and aesthetic fundamentals of books. Visitors from around the world are given the opportunity to experience and compare a broad range of designs.
