Boss Print was the clear winner on presentation night for the British Book Design and Production Awards. The Acton company returned to the stage on four occasions, a number that was matched by publisher Thames and Hudson with four appearances on the podium. While Boss celebrated success in different categories with the same book, Thames and Hudson was on stage for different titles.
The final visits for Boss Print came in the two flagship categories: Best British Book and Book of the Night. This was i.Detroit, the third of Marcus Lyon’s examination into the cultural and racial background of the chosen city. Previous volumes have been Somos Brasil, printed in Brazil and We:Deutschland Germany which Boss Print also produced.
The winning book was designed by Jim Sutherland at Studio Sutherland who has worked with Boss Print on previous occasions. On this one the printer was called upon to print silver on each page with a page of graphs and DNA data following a portrait of an individual from the city, printed using Boss Print’s Vivid Colour technology, using stochastic screening.
The same book also won the self published books category, an indication that self publishing is not restricted to vanity projects. Boss Print also printed Capri, winner of the Photographic Books category, using its HP Indigo, rather than litho press.
The awards continued a strong run for the printer, which had won the Book of the Night in 2019, the previous occasion the awards had been held.
But despite this, and category winning entries from other UK printers, most winners were printed far from Waterstone’s. Other UK winners were Clays, who won the Children’s Trade, 9-16 years and the Brand Identity categories; Taylor Brothers, Best Student Book; Fuller Davies for Exhibition Catalogues (bound by Diamond); and Fine Print Services, Witney, which used its SwissQPrint flatbed inkjet press to print the colour pages of Marrakech, winner of the Digital Print category. Text pages were printed on an Epson. The same book earned Ludlow Bookbinders the Fine Binding Award.
In all from the contested categories (not best British book nor student book) UK printers were nominated on 25 occasions, bettered by the 41 nominations received by Chinese printers. Italy received six nominations, as did for German printers. Printers from Belgium, Latvia, Slovenia, Poland and Turkey also made the shortlists.
The awards had been suspended last year and came back with a record entry of more than 500 submissions. These were examined at St Bride’s by six judges: Dale Burgess (Print2Demand); Michael Burman (FE Burman) Jamie Rudd (SoulKind); Kieron Smith (Blackwell’s Bookshops); Mark Stephenson (Fujifilm) and Nathan Taverner (En-Te). The latter had designed the distinctive Book of the Night, printed by Halstan Press and again, finished by Diamond.
The Cover Design category received most entries, followed closely by Children’s Trade 0-8 years, all of which had been printed in China.
In their summation, the judges comment: “It was pleasing to see such a high number of quality entries for the best Student Book Award – proof that we really do have burgeoning talent within our colleges and universities today.”
