The Best Book Design Contest 2021

The Best Book Design Contest 2021

The contest visual identity: Anastasiia Klieshchova, Lera Guevska

In 2021, the Best Book Design Contest was held for the sixth time. The 10th International Book Arsenal Festival and Goethe-Institute Ukraine, supported by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Buchkunst Foundation, announced the winners of the Best Book Design Contest 2021. 

A total of 227 books were submitted to the contest, which has become a record for the number of contestants. Books that were published from August 2020 to May 2021 by Ukrainian publishers were accepted to participate in the contest.

 

JURY
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Jan Wenzel

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Jonas Voegeli

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Varvara Perekrest

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Nika Kudinova

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Kyrylo Tkachov

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Hlib Kaporikov

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Oksana Barshynova

NOMINATIONS
GRAND PRIX

The Grand Prix of the Contest was won by the Agrafka creative studio (Romana Romanyshyn, Andriy Lesiv) for the book On the Move (the Old Lion Publishing House). The same publication won the nomination Kids Book.

 

The winner in the nomination Text Book is the publication The Timeless Way of Building.

  • Author
    Christopher Alexander.
  • Published
    by the Osnovy Publishing.
  • Art director
    Hanna Kopylova.
  • Design and layout
    Dmytro Denyshchyk, Kateryna Smoliarova.

 

The winner in the nomination Visual Book is the book NARBUT. Studii. Spohady. Lysty (NARBUT. Studios. Memoirs. Letters) [A Supplemented Reproduction of the “Narbut Anthology”, destroyed in 1933].

  • Published
    by RODOVID.
  • Design
    Numo Team (Sasha Bychenko, Oleksii Salnykov, and Alina Bielova, Oleh Shedlovskyi).

 

The jury did not determine a winner in the traditional nominations Experiment and Utility Book, however gave two special awards: ‘For a photo book’ — to a book Lilies.

  • Author
    Alexander Chekmenev.
  • Published
    by MOKSOP.
  • Design
    Calin Kruse / FLUUT Grafik-Design.

 

The special award of the jury ‘For cultural research’ went to a book Flights in Dreams and Reality

  • Issued
    by the Dovzhenko Centre.
  • Publication concept, cover design, book architectonics, font design
    Aliona Solomadina.
  • Selection of illustrations
    Olena Goncharuk, Marina Skirda
  • Selection of illustrations
    Olena Honcharuk, Maryna Skyrda. Layout: Kateryna Bolshakova.

 

SHORT LIST

In addition to the winners of the contest, the short list includes 13 more books:

  • Maiechka’s Alphabet
    Authors: Ila Varina, Olha Shtonda. Published by the Nebo BookLab Publishing. Cover design, illustrations, font design and architectonics: Olha Shtonda. Layout: Antonina Mykolenko.
  • Angst
    Author: Serhii Rafalskyi. Published by Addenda Press. Design: Yaroslava Kovalchuk. Illustrations: Yaroslav Futymskyi.
  • On the Move
    Published by the Old Lion Publishing House
    Designed by the Agrafka creative studio
    (Romana Romanyshyn, Andriy Lesiv)
  • Curatorial Handbook
    Edited by Oleksandra Pohrebniak, Dmytro Chepurnyi, Kateryna Yakovenko. Published by IZOLYATSIA. Platform for cultural initiatives. Design: Kateryna Lesiv.
  • KYIV by Sergiy Maidukov
    Author: Sergiy Maidukov. Published by IST Publishing. Design: Grafprom.
  • Lilies
    Author: Alexander Chekmenev. Published by MOKSOP. Design: Calin Kruse / FLUUT Grafik-Design.
  • NARBUT. Studii. Spohady. Lysty (NARBUT. Studios. Memoirs. Letters) [A Supplemented Reproduction of the “Narbut Anthology”, destroyed in 1933]
    Published by RODOVID. Design: Numo Team (Sasha Bychenko, Oleksii Salnykov, and Alina Bielova, Oleh Shedlovskyi)
  • Flights in Dreams and Reality
    Published by the Dovzhenko Centre. Publication concept, cover design, book architectonics, font design: Aliona Solomadina. Selection of illustrations: Olena Honcharuk, Maryna Skyrda. Layout: Kateryna Bolshakova.
  • A Permanent Place of Residence
    Authors: Pavlo Makov and Serhiy Zhadan. Published by IST Publishing. Design: 3Z Studio.
  • The Passion
    Author: Jeannette Winterson. Published by the Babylon Library publishing. Publication concept, cover design, illustrations: Bohdana Davydiuk. Book architectonics, layout, font design: Volodymyr Havrysh.
  • Production of Presence: What Meaning Cannot Convey
    Author: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht. Published by IST Publishing. Cover design: 3Z Studio.
  • Channels of Wrists
    Author: Olha Olkhova. Published by Sammit Book. Design and layout: Romana Ruban. Photos: Yuliana Paranko. Curator of the project: Yulia Laktionova.
  • The Timeless Way of Building
    Author: Christopher Alexander. Published by the Osnovy Publishing. Art director: Hanna Kopylova. Design and layout: Dmytro Denyshchyk, Kateryna Smoliarova.
BROADCAST
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PARTNERS

The organizers are grateful to the partners of the contest.

The partner of the contest was Visa who presented MacBook Air to the winner of the Grand Prix, as well as prepared valuable prizes for the winners of categories and special awards. The finalists also received valuable presents from the International Photobank Depositphotos and Resident Books, the official representative of TASCHEN publishing house in Ukraine.

For the winner of the Grand Prix, the Goethe-Institut Ukraine provided reimbursement of travel expenses to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair for the person who made the greatest contribution to the artistic embodiment of the winning book, as well as a 6-day entrance ticket to the Frankfurt Book Fair for a publisher or designer.

The media partner of the contest was Telegraf.Design. The educational partner was Projector. The Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine and the City of Leipzig were partners of the contest who organized the participation of international members of the jury.

The broadcast of the ceremony was provided by MEGOGO with the support of the Festival’s partner — Visa.