The registration for The Best Dutch Book Designs 2018 is open till 24:00 11 January 2019. Starting this year there are five categories from which a total maximum of 33 Best Dutch Book Designs can be selected. They are:
- Prose, poetry or graphic novels
- Informative nonfiction (from cookbook to history to doctoral thesis)
- Art, photo and architecture books
- Books for children and young people
- Others
The reason for this change is the Foundation’s desire to underline the fact that selection as one of the Best Dutch Book Designs is open to books of any genre, be it prose, poetry, cookery, history, art, bibles, philosophy, corporate publications, and so on.
Judging Panel
In each individual book the panel of expert judges looks for a combination of design, printing and binding skills and overall concept, in the last of these also taking into account differences in budgets and target group. This year’s panel consists of Michaël Snitker (designer), Mijke Wondergem (designer), Eelco van Welie (managing director, NAI010 publishers), Martijn Kicken (consultant, Tielen printers) and Suzanna Héman (assistant curator, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam).
Student panel
This year there will once again be a separate judging panel consisting of five students who will make their own selection of 33 books. The five all come from top Dutch art colleges (Werkplaats Typografie Arnhem, ArtEZ Hogeschool van de Kunsten Arnhem, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag (KABK), Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam). Their selection will be placed on the website at www.bestverzorgdeboeken-studentenselectie.nl and will have its own catalogue.
Criteria
The principal criteria for consideration for selection are:
1 The work, which need not be in Dutch, must have been:
- published by a publisher established in the Netherlands;
- designed by a person holding Dutch nationality or resident in the Netherlands;
- printed by a printer or printing firm established in the Netherlands.
2 On registering for the selection the registrant must donate to the Foundation two copies of each work; five further copies must be provided if a work is selected as one of the Best Dutch Book Designs.
You can send your books by post or hand them over at our office > PLEASE NOTE: from 24 to 26 December we are closed.
For more details see the Rules.
Entry fee
The registrant pays €75 for the first title and €50 for each further title.
The Best Dutch Book Designs 2018 will be submitted for the international judging in Leipzig.
Both Dutch and international selections will be announced on 4 March.
Work of art by Lynn Leegte: Picture book, 2015