29 May 2001
Gaspereau Press Wins
Alcuin Award for Book Design

Kentville-based publisher Gaspereau Press was recently recognized for excellence in book design. Anton Chekhov Was Never in Charlottetown received an honourable mention in the hotly-contested prose-fiction category of the Alcuin Society's 2001 Awards for Excellence in Book Design. The book is a collection of short stories written by Charlottetown author J.J. Steinfeld. The book was designed by Andrew Steeves, co-owner of Gaspereau Press.

Other winners in this year's prose-fiction category included: Realia, published by Random House (first place); Rocket Science, published by Pedlar Press (second place); The Blind Assasin, published by McClelland & Stewart (honourable mention); and The Words of My Roaring published by U of Alberta Press (honourable mention).

The Alcuin Society has been presenting the Excellence in Book Design awards to Canadian book designers for 19 years. The society, which is based in Vancouver, BC, was founded in 1965 for booklovers world-wide to promote a wider appreciation of what goes into creating fine books.

Judges examined over 250 books published in 2000. Several design elements were considered including: a sound marriage of design and content; appropriate cover design to the content; page layout; typography; and the balance of illustration and text. Winners for the awards are in eight categories, encompassing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, pictorial, reference, children's books, and limited editions.

Gaspereau Press is a trade publisher and printer that publishes both literary and regional interest titles. Gaspereau Press is committed to the book arts, incorporating a range of modern and antique forms of printing to create books that are distinctive in manufacture and design. As well as trade publishing, Gaspereau Press also releases an occasional chapbook series and produces fine hand-printed books in limited editions.

For more information on the Alcuin Society, visit its web site at www.alcuinsociety.com.