This year’s judging for Best Book Design from all over the World in Leipzig resulted in triple praise for books from the Netherlands, all three of them belonging to the Best Dutch Book Designs 2011.

The book Utilité by Ellen Korth, in which forty devotees of fine needlework are being presented, was awarded a silver medal.

There was a bronze medal for What we Wear, the graduation project of Pieter van den Boogert at the Hague academy, tracking the globe-covering itinerary of our clothes.

An honorable mention went to Gomorrah Girl, a documentary of Italian photographer Valerio Spada on the fate of a Neapolitan girl.

Speaking about graphic design, the first and the last book are of the same hand, that of -SYB- (brand name for designer Sybren Kuiper from the Hague).

Best Book Design from all over the World is the most important international beauty contest for the book, Stiftung Buchkunst, keeper of the German Most Beautiful Books contest, being it’s organiser, www.stiftung-buchkunst.de

An international jury of seven saw 540 entries from 31 countries, all national Best Book Designs selections. Save for the first prize, the Golden Letter, there are 1 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals to be had – and 5 honourable mentions.

The photograph shows the Dutch Leipzig awardees Pieter van den Boogert and Ellen Korth, together with Astrid Vorstermans, member of the Best Dutch Book Designs jury. The photo was taken during the award ceremony on March 16 at the Leipzig Book Fair.