image © Australian Bookplate Design Award

Deadline: October 3, 2015

Final entries are due this month for the Australian Bookplate Design Award, which celebrates the time-honoured art form of creating personalised bookplates. The 5th biennial Australian Bookplate Design Award 2015 offers $15,000 prize money across a range of categories, including best Australian, International, Etched, Relief, and Student Awards, at tertiary, secondary and primary levels.

Convenor of the Award, Robert Littlewood, says bookplates – the personalised artworks fixed inside a book to identify the owner – are a particular genre of art that commands on-going recognition. “The bookplate is a fascinating art form that has engaged artists, booklovers and collectors for centuries.

“All booklovers should have their own bookplates, and all artists should turn their hand to the unique art form of creating personalised bookplates. “Renowned Australian artists who have created bookplates include Tom Roberts, Lionel Lindsay, Norman Lindsay, Pro Hart, Adrian Feint, Allan Jordan, David Frazer, Helen Ogilvie, Kenneth Jack, L. Roy Davies, Pixie O’Harris, D. H. Souter and Eric Thake.

“The Australian Bookplate Design Award invites artists from all walks of life to create and enter personalised bookplates that honour this great tradition within the Book Arts,” says Littlewood.

A bookplate design can be created in any medium that can be replicated and provided to the owner with multiple copies.  Ex Libris bookplates can be created as drawings, photographs, computer-based designs and are also sought after collectables when created as original graphic prints such as: etchings, wood engravings, woodcuts and linocuts.

A bookplate design most often says something about the person for whom it was made and traditionally reflects some aspect of their status, achievements, philosophical or vocational interests, hobbies etc.  On the other hand, pictorial bookplates can simply be good designs.

Entries for the Australian Bookplate Design Award 2015 close on 31 October, 2015 with the winners announced at the end of November and a series of public exhibitions commencing in December.

Entry details are available at https://bookplatedesignaward.wordpress.com/

About the Australian Bookplate Design Award

The Australian Bookplate Design Award is conducted by the Keith Wingrove Memorial Trust, among Australian artists, graphic designers and students in the production of Ex Libris Bookplates. Keith Everard Wingrove (1910–1995) was an avid art and book collector.  He had a strong interest in bookplates and was fortunate enough to have Ex Libris designs created for him by Norman Lindsay and other famous artists.

The purpose of the competition is to increase interest in and to attract publicity to the artistic value of bookplates.  Although the competition is referred to as “Australian”, the 2013 Design Awards included a prize category for International artists for the first time. There are other prizes for specific types of bookplates and for designs by primary and secondary school students.

The Australian Bookplate Design Award is conducted every two years and is the richest bookplate design award in the world with a prize pool of AUD$15,000.

> via bookplatedesignaward.wordpress.com