ABDA Book Design Awards 2017 shortlists announced

The Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) has announced the shortlists for the 2017 Book Design Awards.

The shortlisted titles in each category are:

Best Designed Commercial Fiction Book

• Olmec Obituary (L J M Owen, Echo), designed by Josh Durham
• Our Tiny, Useless Hearts (Toni Jordan, Text), designed by Imogen Stubbs
• Red Herring (Jonathan Cullinane, HarperCollins), designed by Darren Holt
• The Dangers of Truffle Hunting (Sunni Overend, HarperCollins), designed by Hazel Lam

Best Designed Literary Fiction Book

• 1984 (George Orwell, Text), designed by W H Chong
• Comfort Food (Ellen van Neerven, UQP), designed by Josh Durham
• The Birdman’s Wife (Melissa Ashley, Affirm Press), designed by Christa Moffitt
• The Museum of Modern Love (Heather Rose, A&U), designed by Sandy Cull

Best Designed Nonfiction Book

• Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing (Ashleigh Wilson, Text), designed by W H Chong
• The Art of Reading (Damon Young, MUP), designed by Mary Callahan
• The Hate Race (Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette), designed by Allison Colpoys
• You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life (Andrew Hankinson, Scribe), designed by Jenny Grigg

Best Designed Series (including Classics)

• ‘Tommy Wieringa’ series (Scribe), designed by Jenny Grigg
• ‘The Women of Letters’ series (Viking), designed by Laura Thomas
• ‘UQP Short Stories’ series, designed by Josh Durham
• ‘Wisdom Tree’ series (Nick Earls, Inkerman & Blunt), designed by Sandy Cull

Best Designed Fully-illustrated Book Under RRP $50

• A Spot at the Bar (Michael Madrusan & Zara Young, Hardie Grant), designed by The Company You Keep
• Blood Mystic (George Gittoes, Plum), designed by Daniel New
• Grown & Gathered (Matt and Lentil Pubrick, Plum), designed by Daniel New
• Wild Beauty (Vanessa Hunter & Graham Lloyd, Hardie Grant), designed by Murray Batten

Best Designed Fully-illustrated Book Over RRP $50

• Clay (Amber Creswell Bell, Thames & Hudson), designed by Ngaio Parr
• Current (David Hockney, NGV), designed by Thomas Deverall
• Some Posters from the NGV (NGV), designed by Sturart Geddes
• The Field Guide to Australian Produce (ed by Ewan McEoin, Thames & Hudson), designed by Matthew Angel

Best Designed Cookbook

• Best Kitchen Basics (Mark Best, Hardie Grant), designed by Murray Batten
• Florentine (Emiko Davies, Hardie Grant), designed by Allison Colpoys and Kasia Gadecki
• For the Love of Meat (Alex Herbert, Hardie Grant), designed by Evi Oetomo
• Smith & Daughters (Shannon Martinez & Mo Wyse, Hardie Grant), designed by Vaughan Mossop and Callum Preston

Best Designed Independent Book

• Cashcow Obligue (Letterbox), designed by Stephen Banham
• DC = mc² (Romy Moshinsky, Real Film and Publishing), designed by Trisha Garner
• The redacted history of the institute of Contextualism (Studio Yeah), designed by Keith Walsh
• When a still painting shows us that we are moving (David Thomas, Surpllus), designed by Stuart Geddes

Best Designed Scholarly and Reference Book

• The Australian National Dictionary (Bruce Moore et al, OUP), designed by Sue Dani
• Shannon Bennett’s London (Shannon Bennett, Hardie Grant), designed by Giuseppe Santamaria

Best Designed Educational Primary / Secondary Book

• Art Detective (Michelle Stockley, Cengage), designed by Aisling Gallagher
• Food Tech Focus (Geraldine Blake et al, Cengage), designed by Aisling Gallagher
• Sciences 8: Yours to Discover (Neil Champion et al, Cengage), designed by Kim Ferguson
• The Invisible War: A Tale on Two Scales (Scale Free Network), designed by Jaye Carcary

Best Designed Educational Tertiary Book

• Basic Plumbing Services Skills (Cengage), designed by Chris Starr
• Children, Families and Communities (Jennifer Bowes, Rebekah Grace & Kerry Hodge, OUP), designed by Regine Abos
• Media & Society (Michael O’Shaughnessy, Jane Stadler & Sarah Casey, OUP), designed by Anthony Stephens
• Moral Issues in Business (William Shaw et al, Cengage), designed by Danielle Maccarone

Best Designed Children’s Illustrated Book

• Cyclone (Jackie French, illus by Bruce Whatley, Scholastic), designed by Nicole Stofberg
• Lots (Marc Martin, Viking), designed by Bruno Herfst and Marc Martin
• Small Things (Mel Tregonning, A&U), designed by Sandra Nobes
• There’s Not One (Jennifer Higgie, Scribble), designed by Jennifer Higgie and Miriam Rosenbloom

Best Designed Children’s Fiction Book

• Captain Jimmy Cook Discovers Third Grade (Kate and Jol Temple, illus by Jon Foye, A&U), designed by Jon Foye
• Charlie and the War Against the Grannies (Alan Brough, Pan), designed by Evi Oetomo
• Iris and the Tiger (Leanne Hall, Text), designed by Imogen Stubbs
• Magrit (Lee Battersby, Walker), designed by Amy Daoud

Best Designed Young Adult Book

• Bro (Helen Chebatte, Hardie Grant Egmont), designed by Josh Durham
• Girl in Pieces (Kathleen Glasgow, HarperCollins), designed by Allison Colpoys
• The Boundless Sublime (Lili Wilkinson, A&U), designed by Astred Hicks
• The Yearbook Committee (Sarah Ayoub, HarperCollins), designed by Stephanie Spartels

Best Designed Children’s / Young Adult Series

• ‘A Stella Montgomery Intrigue’ series (Judith Rossell, ABC), designed by Hazel Lam
• ‘The Watchmaker Novels’ (Tim Hehir, Text), designed by W H Chong
• ‘The Tuesday McGillycuddy’ series (Angelica Banks, A&U), designed by Josh Durham
• ‘Word by Word’ series (Little Hare), designed by Allison Colpoys

Young Designer of the Year

• Andy Warren
• Ella Egidy

In addition to these awards, ABDA will also present three ‘designers’ choice’ awards, which will be voted for by ABDA members at the winners presentation. They are: Designers’ Choice Book of the Year, Designers’ Choice Best Young Adult / Children’s Cover and Designers’ Choice Best Cover of the Year.

The winners of the awards will be announced at the awards party in Sydney on 26 May.

This is the third year that the awards have been run by ABDA, which took over the responsibility of running the awards from the Australian Publishers Association. For more information, visit the ABDA website here.

Category: Awards Local news