Number of entries in the sixth annual program topped previous years with submissions

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) has announced the winners of the ECPA/dp Book Cover Award program. The publishers’ group reported its best year with 101 submissions from 19 publishers for the sixth annual program, which is sponsored by Dickinson Press. 

Launched in 2007, the awards aim to educate, promote and recognize superior cover design in Christian publishing. This year, the program presented two awards, one for design and one for research-based marketability.

“We were very pleased to continue the valuable component matching design to consumer behavior—while adding more criteria related to design merits,” said ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper. “The industry responded enthusiastically and we saw a record number of entries from a record number of publishers this year.”

Managed by Faceout Studio and highlighting the art aspect of book covers, the ECPA Book Cover Design Award was introduced last year and focused on the design merits of a cover, including the level of conceptual thinking, the quality of the execution and appropriateness for the market.

Announced Dec. 12, Design winners were: Love Does by Bob Goff and designed by Connie Gabbert (Thomas Nelson) in the Large Publisher category; Daddy, Is That Story True or Were You Just Preaching? by James W. Moore and designed by David Carlson (Abingdon Press) in the Mid-Sized Publisher category; and The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung and designed by Josh Dennis (Crossway) in the Small Publisher category.

Managed by RISC AmeriScan and highlighting the science aspect of covers, the Consumer Research award is based on the consumer-buying research of the Research Institute for Social Change (RISC), which measures consumer motivations as it relates to cover design and book sales. Covers were judged and analyzed on how well their design elements match characteristics of their intended audience.

Consumer Research winners were: Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel and designed by Curt Diepenhorst (Zondervan) in the Large Publisher category; What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him by Byron Forrest Yawn and designed by Koechel Peterson & Associates (Harvest House Publishers) in the Mid-Sized Publisher category; and Spark by Jason Jaggard and designed by Kristopher Orr (WaterBrook Press) in the Small Publisher category.

“The book cover is advertising what the book is all about,” said Rick Hamm, director of RISC AmeriScan Research, who pointed out that the judges looked at the full book cover, not just the front. 

The art and science aspects of the awards were judged separately and operated independently from each other.

The winners received a black glass plaque with a metal plate exhibiting the colors of the book cover winners.

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