Exceptional shortlist announced for BPANZ Book Design Awards
New Zealand has a pool of outstanding book design talent, as revealed by the shortlist released today for the 2009 Book Publishers Association of New Zealand Book Design Awards.
“The finalists we have chosen are representative of a very fertile collaboration between New Zealand publishers and designers. In all cases, a good text has been enhanced by a designer's sensitive and creative response,” says Peter Gilderdale, (pic left), Convener of Judges for 2009.
Gilderdale, along with other judges Graham Beattie and Guy Somerset, found it difficult to shortlist three books in each category.

Gilderdale admits, “Judging these awards proved really tough because of the surfeit of exceptionally well-designed books to choose from.”

Katy Yiakmis, a previous finalist in these awards, is represented in three categories, with three books designed for Random House NZ: her skills traverse the illustrated category with Mates & Lovers, the non-illustrated category with Diggers Hatters & Whores, and the new G.A. Pindar & Son Award for Best Typography with Into the Wider World.

Sarah Maxey stands out again this year with three titles shortlisted. Her covers for Doubtless: New and Selected Poems and Collected Poems, internal design by Robbie Burton and Katrina Duncan respectively, were both shortlisted in the non-illustrated book category. Maxey is also shortlisted with Yiakmis and Arch MacDonnell in the new typography category for How to Look at a Painting.
Practised hands of previous book design awards winners Marie Low, Katrina Duncan and Alan Deare are seen again in this year's shortlist.

The competition is judged in five general categories, with a winner for the highly coveted Best Book and Best Cover chosen from the shortlist. The awards will be announced at a ceremony on 3 September, along with a new award for the Awa Press Young Designer of the Year.
The awards help promote excellence in, and provide recognition for, the best book design in New Zealand. They are sponsored by BPANZ, in association with the New Zealand Listener and Publishing Press.
Finalists for the 2009 BPANZ Book Design Awards are as follows.


Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book
The Apple
Sarah Healy
Ben Brown & Tracy Duncan
Penguin Group (NZ)

The Were-Nana
Sarah Nelisiwe Anderson
Melinda Szymanik
Scholastic New Zealand

Piano Rock: A 1950s Childhood
Sarah Elworthy / Gavin Bishop
Gavin Bishop
Random House New Zealand

Hachette New Zealand Award for Best Non-Illustrated Book
Doubtless: New and Selected Poems
Robbie Burton (Internal), Sarah Maxey (Cover)
Sam Hunt
Craig Potton Publishing

Collected Poems
Katrina Duncan (Internal), Sarah Maxey (Cover)
C.K. Stead
Auckland University Press

Diggers Hatters & Whores
Katy Yiakmis
Stevan Eldred-Grigg
Random House New Zealand

Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book
Ladies, A Plate
Alan Deare
Alexa Johnston
Penguin Group (NZ)

Mates & Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand
Katy Yiakmis
Chris Brickell
Random House New Zealand

White Silence
Alan Deare
Grahame Sydney
Penguin Group (NZ)

Pearson Award for Best Educational Book
Excellence in Biology III
Book Design Ltd (Internal), Brenda Cantrell (Cover)
Martin Hanson
Cengage Learning

Saying What you See
Marie Low & Esther Chua (Internal), Marie Low (Cover)
Alison Annals, Abby Cunnane and Sam Cunnane
Pearson

Through a Gap in the Fence: Journal of Secondary Students' Writing and Visual Arts 2008
Meredith Biberstein
Ministry of Education
Learning Media

G.A. Pindar & Son Award for Best Typography
How to Look at a Painting
Sarah Maxey
Justin Paton
Awa Press

Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany
Katy Yiakmis
Brian Turner
Random House New Zealand


Certain Words Drawn
Arch MacDonnell
John Reynolds
Random House New Zealand