The Best Book Design 2024 competition announces its winners

After the  International Book Arsenal Festival announced the winners of the ninth “Best Book Design 2024” competition, Chytomo gathered comments from jury members on the winning entries and general impressions of the competition.

Grand Prix of the competition and winner of the “Utilitarian Book” category:  Pomizh Magazine (Inaugural Issue)

Editors: Alina Stamenova, Dinara Khalilova, Olya Vasylets 

Visual Concept, Design, Layout: Sasha Bychenko (Kultura Studio)

Production Technologist: Ruslan Fokin (Publish Pro)

Color Correction: Volodymyr Havrysh 

Publisher: Kultura Medialna 

“This work stands out for its exceptional typesetting, and precise design in terms of composition, typography, and color. The publication showcases its uniqueness through the use of unconventional inks and the creation of its own vision. There is a sense of cohesion—from the cover to the last page—that creates the feeling of a unified journey,” commented jury member Anatoly Popel, CEO of CASES founder and head of Creative Practice. 

“High-quality content, stylish photos and illustrations, all presented on excellent paper,” added member Olena Staranchuk, co-curator of Pictoric.

“This publication excels in the consistency between form and color. The choice of fonts, the hierarchy of typography and information, and the integration of headlines with illustrations—all demonstrate exceptionally high-quality design.” -Jury member Kuba Sowiński, graphic designer and lecturer from Poland.

The “Word Book” winner was Strength Has Grown on the Fracture

Publication concept and architectronics: Tetiana Kostina

Cover design and layout:  Daria Stetsenko

Publisher: punkt publishing

“This is a clean and well-thought-out work where every design decision is clearly justified.” -Jury member Valeriia Guievska, Art Director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

The “Art Book” winner was Kotsyubynsky: Between Cinema and Literature

Authors: Aliona Penzii, Stanislav Bytiutskyi, Oleg Olifer 

Artistic design, layout, and typesetting: Butsia Bureau, Halia Verheles 

Publisher: Dovzhenko Centre

 “This publication surprises on every page, keeping the reader’s attention until the very end. Unconventional solutions and eclecticism work harmoniously here to create true magic.” -Jury member Dasha Podoltseva, graphic designer and visual artist.

“The book is playful, yet collected. Its design is precise and masterful, leaving only positive impressions.” -Jury member Anna Ivanenko, Studio Seri/graph.

The “Visual Storytelling” winner was “The Path of Grain”

Artistic design: Postmen, Yaroslav Vedmid, Oleh Hryshchenko, Oleksii Chekal.

Typography: Oleksii Chekal (title lettering), Fixel font 

Self-published, initiated by KERNEL.

“The book is experimental and well-made. It could be a scientific publication, but the visual approach makes it unique.”  -Jury member Kuba Sowiński.

“The Path of Grain stands out for its excellent post-production and specific viewpoint. It fits the visual storytelling category.” -Jury member Zakentiy Horobyov, graphic designer, typographer, and illustrator.

“This publication fully aligns with the Visual Storytelling category.” -Jury member Dasha Podoltseva.

In the Experiment category, the jury decided not to award a winner. However, there were several awards presented as special prizes:

Jury’s special honor for “sinful design of excellent quality” goes to Hryshnitsia (*Sinner) Journal

Founder and creative director: Julie Poly.

Art director: Snizhana Chernetska.

Publisher: Druckhaus Sportflieger (Germany).

Jury’s special honor for a successful solution for the series goes to  The Series of Foreign Classics “The Red Room”, “I’m Not Stiller”, and “Straight is the Gate”

Artistic editor: Anna Havryliuk

Technical editor: Nataliia Koval

Illustrator of “The Red Room:” Anna Ivanenko

Illustrator of “I’m Not Stiller:” Bohdana Rudenko

Illustrator of “Straight is the Gate:” Kseniia Stepas

Publisher: One More Page

Jury’s special honor for cover design goes to “The Richynski Sisters” (in three volumes)

Cover designer: Volodymyr Havrysh

Art editor: Viktoriia Shelest

The layout designer: Nataliia Koval

Publisher: Vikhola

Jury’s special honor for the design of a museum publication (tailor-made design) goes to the album “The Mykolaiv Regional Museum of Local History. Selected Objects” 

Author: Media agency Platfor.ma and the staff of the Mykolaiv Regional Museum of Local History

Artistic design: Valeria Gorodchanina

Publisher: Blank-Press LLC.

Jury’s special honor for the feeling of the material goes to “Behind Blue Eyes”

Curation, editing, translation: Behind Blue Eyes Charity Project in cooperation with Readellion Publishing (Mariia Diakova, Heorhii Vyhranovskyi).

Artwork, design, layout: Havhav bureau (Maria Havrysh, Volodymyr Havrysh).

The publication used photos taken by children with film cameras as part of the Behind Blue Eyes project, as well as the project team.

Publisher: KOLO printing house

Jury’s special honor for pioneering insights and transformative contributions to artificial intelligence* goes to Synthetics No. 1.AI: Friend or Foe”

Authors: Denys Prystai, Dmytro Moro, Sofiia Pravdyvets, Oleksandr Tartachnyi, and others.

Artistic design: Hlib Kaporikov, Anastasiia Shyshenok, Projector Publishing.

*wording generated by ChatGPT

Jury’s special honor for poetry in design form goes to “Imagination Guide II: How to Make Rockets Disappear”

Author: Daria Lukianenko. 

Book’s architectonics: developed in collaboration with Darja Lukjanenko, Iva Naidenko, and Nadiia Koval.

Illustrations: Polina Bakanova. 

Editing: Iva Naidenko and Nadiia Koval. 

Printing, design, and layout: Wydawnictwo Stopka.

Finalists of the Best Book Design 2024 contest:

Word Book runners up: 

“Can I have one onion?”

Author: Oksana Lemishka.

Publication concept and the book’s architectonics: Tetiana Kostina.

Design, layout: Hanna Zatsarynska.

Illustrations: Danylo Shtangeev.

Publisher: punkt publishing.

“Culture under pressure from OOO/OOOO”

Author: Borys Filonenko.

Artistic design: Volodymyr Havrysh.

Publisher: ist publishing.

“Art Book” runners up:

“Alla Horska”

Compiled by: Anastasia Yatskovska.

Design, layout: Dasha Podoltseva.

Publisher: RODOVID in cooperation with the Dukat Art Foundation.

“Before the Future”

Authors: Iryna Miroshnikova, Oleksii Petrov, Borys Filonenko.

Artwork: Ostap Yashchuk.

Publisher: ist publishing.

“Utilitarian book” runners up:

“Time Line”

Author: Valentyna Merzhyievska.

Artistic design: Dmytro Shkolnyi

Self-published

Periodical “Chronicle of Ukrainian Design”

Author: Spiilka design bureau.

Artistic design: Volodymyr Smirnov

Publisher: ist publishing

“Visual storytelling” runners up:

“My Plast”

Author: Yulia Smal

Publication concept and the book’s architecture: Nataliia Mospan.

Illustrations and cover design: Valeriia Kryzhanovska

Layout: Uliana Reshetukha

Publisher: My Bookshelf Publishing House LLC

“The Secret Life of Wonder Beasts” by Mariia Prymachenko

Author: Maryna Makushchenko

Art design: Dariia Filippova

Layout: Yana Plaskonis

Publisher: The Old Lion Publishing House.

“A Fairy Tale from Granny Nastia: About a Peasant, His Daughter, A Gentleman, and a Foaling Mare”

Authors: Maryna Shchehelska, Anastasia Chmunevych

Art direction: Maryna Shchehelska

Self-published

“Experimental” category nominees (no clear winner):

“Dream Dictionary”

Author of the idea and artistic design: Maryna Shchehelska.

Self-published.

“A Dream in a Warm Bed on Granny’s Soft Embroidered Pillow”

Book Design: Yuliia Pokydko.

Self-published.

Jury of the Best Book Design 2024:

Zakentiy Horobyov, graphic designer, typographer, illustrator;

Valeriia Guievska, Art Director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal;

Anna Ivanenko, Studio Seri/graph;

Dasha Podoltseva, graphic designer, visual artist;

Anatoly Popel, CEO of CASES founder and head of Creative Practice;

Kuba Sowiński, graphic designer, lecturer (Poland);

Olena Staranchuk, co-curator of Pictoric.

The competition jury received 242 applications. Books that were published between December 2023 and November 2024 which were not submitted to the competition in previous years were eligible. The project partners were the Frankfurter Buchmesse and the Buchkunst Foundation.

The Grand Prix winner will receive the main prize of the competition — a statuette. All finalists, winners, and jury special honor winners will receive honorary diplomas and book prizes from Mystetskyi Arsenal, and will represent Ukrainian book design in the international competition “The Most Beautiful Books in the World,” organized by the German Foundation Buchkunst. The collection of winning books will be exhibited at international book fairs in Leipzig and Frankfurt in 2025.

The author of the greatest contribution to the design of the grand prize-winning book will be invited by the Buchkunst Foundation to take part in a professional trip to Germany in 2025.

All publications submitted for the competition that did not receive awards and special honors will be donated to libraries in cooperation with PEN Ukraine.

The Best Book Design competition was launched in 2016 by the International Book Arsenal Festival in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine and with the support of the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Buchkunst Foundation. The winners were announced with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry of Culture and Media. The winners of the competition will represent Ukrainian book design in an international competition organized by the German Buchkunst Foundation and will be exhibited at international book fairs.

RELATED: Best Book Design from all over the world – 2024 winners released

Images: Oleksandr Popenko

Copy editing: Ben Angel