Annual Show Celebrates Excellence in University Press Design
New York, NY, and Washington, DC—The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) proudly announces the juried selections for its 2024 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show. These outstanding examples of university press publications are on virtual display at https://design.up.hcommons.org/.
The annual show, now in its 59th year, honors the university publishing community’s design and production professionals; recognizes achievement in design, production, and manufacture of print publications; and serves as a spark to conversations and source of ideas about intelligent, creative, and resourceful publishing.
Open to AUPresses member publishers worldwide for works published in 2023, this year’s competition attracted 507 submissions in these categories:
- Scholarly books, typographic and illustrated
- Trade books, typographic and illustrated
- Poetry and literature books
- Reference books
- Journals
- Jackets and covers (of books and journals)
“It is a joy to be amid the rush of creativity and exuberance that is exemplified by the Book, Jacket, and Journal Show submissions,” said Book, Jacket, and Journal Show Committee chair David Zielonka, Editorial, Design, and Production Director, Stanford University Press. “Our jurors were spoiled with the wide variety of visual and intellectual expressions that make our community so rich and diverse. The committee members really came through as a team, making this year’s efforts virtually seamless. Here’s to another great Show!“
The 2024 Show jurors, who gathered in January at the AUPresses office in New York to evaluate entries, are:
- George Kirkpatrick is a book designer based on Isle Madame in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. During a decades-long freelance career he has designed hundreds of covers and interiors for university presses and academic publishers in Canada and the United States.
- Victor Mingovits, based in New York City, creates book covers and interiors for a wide variety of projects—from trade titles to limited edition publications for cultural institutions. His work has been recognized by AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers, AUPresses, and the Type Directors Club, among others.
- Michel Vrana, based in Toronto, specializes in book cover work for Canadian and American trade publishers as well as university presses; like Mingovits, his past work has been recognized by AUPresses. He has also designed and published comics, graphic novels, and magazines.
Kirkpatrick and Mingovits identified 30 outstanding book and journal entries from a field of 178 submissions. “It is really encouraging to see the craft of book design and production so alive and well,” said Kirkpatrick. “It indicates a community of individuals—designers, art directors, production editors—and institutions that care about this artform. I think that the books we have selected have a great deal to teach about good design and I hope that they can encourage and illuminate.”
“While some books immediately caught our eye and made the short list, others sparked lively discussions,” said Mingovits. “We were particularly drawn to those designs that revealed their brilliance over time, prompting us to reconsider what makes a design truly successful. These unexpected gems left a lasting impression, drawing us back for more as their unique design unfolded with each reading.”
Vrana and Mingovits—who served double-duty when juror Dominique Jones of Penguin Random House was unable to participate due to a last-minute scheduling conflict—selected the top 51 jacket and cover entries for the show, from 329 entries. When asked if this year’s entries exhibited any particular trend or theme, Vrana said, “The strongest ‘trend’ I could discern was a wide selection of creative approaches to the unique range of subjects that make university press books so compelling.”
The 2024 show will debut “in person” at the AUPresses Annual Meeting in Montréal, June 11-13, with its jurors also in attendance to offer observations and discuss their process with attendees. It will also travel to member presses from September 2024 through May 2025.
The traveling exhibition of the 2023 show will be displayed at the University Press Redux conference, hosted by the UK-based Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers and AUPresses member Edinburgh University Press, in Edinburgh, May 15-16.
The Book, Jacket, and Journal Show Committee decided to donate this year’s unselected books to the Book Cellar, a nonprofit bookstore located in the Webster Branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and operated by the Friends of Webster Library. The store contributes more than $100,000 annually to support NYPL branch library services and has generated $1.25 million in its twenty years of operation. The committee expresses particular thanks to juror Mingovits for facilitating this donation.
About the Association of University Presses
AUPresses is an organization of 160 international nonprofit scholarly publishers. Since 1937, the Association of University Presses advances the essential role of a global community of publishers whose mission is to ensure academic excellence and cultivate knowledge. The Association holds intellectual freedom, integrity, stewardship, and equity and inclusion as core values. AUPresses members are active across many scholarly disciplines, including the humanities, arts, and sciences, publish significant regional and literary work, and are innovators in the world of digital publishing.