The ECPA/Dickinson Press Book Cover Award is intended to educate, promote and recognize superior cover design in the Christian publishing industry.
In the summer of 2006, Dickinson Press, Inc. (DP) commissioned a landmark book study to help Christian book publishers improve internal planning between sales, marketing and editorial, while developing and designing more on-target products.
This first ever book study is based on analysis conducted by the Research Institute on Social Change, or RISC. Through over 35-years of analyzing consumer behavior, RISC measures consumer buying motivations, attitudes, and design affinity. (“How RISC Works”) The research DP commissioned also monitors changes in book reader’s characteristics such as demography, values, and book cover design preferences.
Based on this ground-breaking research, ECPA and Dickinson Press have developed the industry's first book cover design award. The ECPA/Dickinson Press Book Cover Award will be presented annually for the best book cover design integrity as it relates to standards established by Dickinson Press and RISC.
Book cover “design integrity” is defined as design incorporating the intended book reader’s characteristics with the application of design components most likely to appeal to the target book reader. These design elements would include subject matter, images, font and font treatment, color pallet, and title language.
Book covers will be entered into one of four categories based on the number of titles a publisher has released in the previous year:
- Category 1: 1-100 titles
- Category 2: 101-250 titles
- Category 3: 251+ titles
- Category 4: for Bible entries from publishers of any size. (Note: Bible entries will include Bible packaging as well as covers.)
The award will be presented to the best cover in each category at ECPA's Publishing University in November. Winning covers will be honored with announcements to the industry, Christian and general market retailers, and media.
Entries must be submitted by August 15, 2008. Please refer to Submission Rules for complete entry information.
The objective of the ECPA/Dickinson Press Book Cover Award is to encourage, identify and celebrate "best in class" design for Christian publishing's book covers. Join ECPA and Dickinson Press in the debut of this award by placing your Application/Payment today!
