42nd Alcuin Awards – Winners Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 8, 2025

The Alcuin Society announces the winners of the 42nd Alcuin Society’s Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada.

The judging took place on Saturday, April 5th at Sheridan College’s Hazel McCallion campus in Mississauga, Ontario. The judges were three very experienced book designers, Donna Braggins, Bryan Gee and Shelley Gruendler. They had before them 228 submitted entries from 81 Canadian publishers. All books were designed by Canadian designers, of which 112 participated.

The books will be exhibited across Canada at Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, University of Alberta, Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, National Gallery of Canada, Arts in Muskoka, McGill University, Université de Québec à Montréal, and NSCAD University. They will also be sent to Germany where they will be exhibited at the Frankfurt Bookfair and the Leipzig Bookfair and entered in the Siftung Buchkunst’s international book design competition.

The winners are:

Children's Picture Books / Livres illustrés pour enfants

First: Mushrooms Know: Wisdom From Our Friends the Fungi, Greystone Kids, Sara Gillingham (designer)

Second: Mad at Dad, Kids Can Press, Barb Kelly (designer)

Third: A Face Is a Poem, Tundra Books, John Martz (designer)

Honourable Mention: Boozhoo! / Hello!, Groundwood Books, Michael Solomon (designer)

Honourable Mention: Towed by Toad, Tundra Books, Sophie Paas-Lang (designer)

Honourable Mention: Bog Myrtle, Annick Press, Rachel Nam (designer)

Comics / Graphic Novels / Bande dessinées

First: The Gulf, Tundra Books, John Martz (designer)

Second: Raw Sewage Science Fiction, Drawn & Quarterly, Marc Bell (designer)

Third: Vera Bushwack, Drawn & Quarterly, Sig Burwash (designer)

Honourable Mention: The Cosmic Con, At Bay Press, Lucas C. Pauls, Matt Joudrey (designers)

Honourable Mention: The Forgotten Frontier, At Bay Press, Lucas C. Pauls, Matt Joudrey (designers)

Limited editions / Éditions à tirage limité

First: Treasure Island, Conversation Tree Press, Anthony Geer (designer)

Second: The Turn | Like a Moth at a Window, Greenboathouse Press, Jason Dewinetz (designer)

Pictorial Including Exhibition catalogues / Beaux livres, y compris catalogues d’exposition

First: (tie) Gathered Leaves: Discoveries from the Drawings Vault / Feuille à feuille: La collection de dessins dévoilée, [Two distinct volumes comprising the English edition and the French edition], National Gallery of Canada; François Martin (designer)

First: (tie) AP205 Amancio Williams: Readings of the Archive by Studio Muoto, Claudia Schmidt, and Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Matthias Kreutzer (Our Polite Society) (designer)

Second: No one because tie for First

Third: Women on the Move: An Exhibition of Travel Books, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, David Moratto (designer)

Honourable Mention: Clara Gutsche: Portraits d’enfants. Children, Optica, centre d'art contemporain, Dominique Mousseau (designer)

Honourable Mention: Helen McNicoll: un voyage impressionniste / An Impressionist Journey, Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec (MNBAQ), Marc André Roy (designer)

Honourable Mention: Canadian Photographs: Geoffrey James, Figure 1 Publishing, Naomi MacDougall, (DSGN Dept.) (designer)

Poetry / Poésie

First: The Undesirables: a bestiary, Emily Carr University Press, Courtenay Webber (The Future) (designer)

Second: cipher, Beautiful Outlaw Press, Mark Goldstein (designer)

Third: Sorry About the Fire, Biblioasis, Natalie Olsen (designer)

Prose: fiction / Romans et nouvelles

First: Dayspring, Strange Light, Jennifer Griffiths (designer)

Second: Batshit Seven, Penguin Canada, Mathew Flute, (designer)

Third: Every Night I Dream I'm a Monk, Every Night I Dream I'm a Monster, Freehand Books, Natalie Olsen (designer)

Honourable Mention: How it Works Out, Doubleday Canada, Jennifer Griffiths (designer)

Honourable Mention: Prairie Edge, Strange Light, Kate Sinclair (designer)

Prose: illustrated / Prose illustrée

First: Taizo Yamamoto: Carts, Hedges, Lions, Figure 1 Publishing, Jessica Sullivan (designer)

Second: La chasse interdite, Éditions du Noroît, Maxime Rheault (Criterium) (designer)

Third: He Hijacked My Brain: Gary Topp's Toronto, UXB Press Canada, Noël Nanton; Nadia Molinari (typotherapy), (designers)

Honourable Mention: Giant Robot: 30 Years of Defining Asian American Pop Culture, Drawn & Quarterly, Megan Tan, Tracy Hurren (designers)

Prose: non-fiction / Études et essais

First (tie): Les forces du sommeil - cohabitations des vivants: Manif d'art 11: la biennale de Québec, Manif d’art, Maxime Rheault, Marie-Joëlle Lemire, Chany Lagueux (Criterium) (designers)

First (tie): A Nations Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, Signal, Kate Sinclair (designer)

Second: No one because tie for First

Third: What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time, House of Anansi, Greg Tabor (Designer); Bill Douglas (Series Design); Alysia Shewchuk (Text Design)

Honourable Mention: Five Manifestos for the Beautiful World, Alchemy by Knopf Canada, Jennifer Griffiths (designer)

Reference / Ouvrages de référence

First: Hemingway s'est paqueté la fraise et autre cocktails originaux, Québec Amerique, Christian Salette (designer)

Second: The Side Gardener: Recipes & Notes from My Garden, Appetite by Random House, Kelly Hill (designer)

Third: San Diego Cooks: Recipes from the Region’s Favorite Eateries, Bakeries, and Bars, Figure 1 Publishing, Naomi MacDougall, Jessica Sullivan (designers)