One Man Dominates Prestigious Design Awards

Press Release
for immediate use: 25July 2005

One Man Dominates Prestigious Design Awards

Award-winning photographer and designer Neil Pardington was recognised for his outstanding efforts in the design of Shane Cotton, which took the awards for Best Book and Best Cover.

The judges agreed that Shane Cotton (written by Lara Strongman, published by City Gallery Wellington and Victoria University Press) “is a wonderful example of how a designer can turn thoughtful text and outstanding visual images into a book that has magic, charm and impact. Form and content work together to create something greater than the individual parts.

Pardington featured in all categories of the awards. His other accolades included short listings in the Best Book and Best Typography categories for Icons (Te Papa Press) and in the Use of Illustration category for Shane Cotton.

The award for Best Typography went to Jacqui Colley for Clubs (by Colley and Kate De Goldi, published by Trapeze) and for Best Use of Illustration to Carl Bland and Margaret Cochran for Peter Bland’s The Night Kite (Mallinson Rendel).

The three winners and five highly commended books were chosen from 146 entries.

The judging panel included Dorothy Vinicombe, book promotions manager for the Whitcoulls Group; Philip Mathews, arts and books editor and assistant editor for the New Zealand Listener; and Sean McGarry, Creative Director and a partner at Base Two design agency in Wellington. The awards are run by Book Publishers Association of New Zealand.

The hardest part of judging was not choosing the shortlist, but, said the judges, deciding on the final ranking which indicates the quality of each finalist.
They are confident that all [the winning] books will become enduring favourites with both book lovers and art lovers … These designers are to be congratulated on their attention to detail, from book cover to typography and use of illustration.

The winners were announced on 24 July at an awards ceremony held in conjunction with the Booksellers New Zealand Annual Conference.

NB: All designers, authors and judges are available for interview.
High-resolution images of all shortlist books are available by email.

Winners of the Spectrum Print Book design Awards 2005, in association with Spectrum Print, Book Publishers Association of New Zealand (BPANZ) and the New Zealand Listener

Best Book

Winner Shane Cotton
by Lara Strongman
designer Neil Pardington
publisher City Gallery Wellington and Victoria University Press

Highly Commended Welcome to the South Seas
by Gregory O'Brien
designer Sarah Maxey (cover); Katrina Duncan (interior); Greg O’Brien (endpapers)
publisher Auckland University Press

Icons Nga Taonga
by The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
designer Neil Pardington
publisher Te Papa Press

Cover

Winner Shane Cotton
by Lara Strongman
designer Neil Pardington
publisher City Gallery Wellington and Victoria University Press

Highly Commended Connections: Stories of Taranaki
by Sarah Brown
designer Cato Partners
publisher Puke Ariki and District Libraries

Welcome to the South Seas
by Gregory O’Brien
designer Sarah Maxey
publisher Auckland University Press

Typography

Winner Clubs
by Kate De Goldi and Jacqui Colley
designer: Jacqui Colley
publisher Trapeze Publishing Ltd

Highly Commended Icons Nga Taonga
by The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
designer Neil Pardington
publisher Te Papa Press

Welcome to the South Seas
by Gregory O'Brien
designer Katrina Duncan
publisher Auckland University Press

Use of Illustration

Winner The Night Kite
by Peter Bland
illustrations Carl Bland
designer Carl Bland, with Margaret Cochran
publisher Mallinson Rendel Publishers Ltd

Highly Commended Shane Cotton
by Lara Strongman
designer Neil Pardington
publisher City Gallery Wellington and Victoria University Press

Dave Gunson's New Zealand Wildlife
by Dave Gunson
designer Nick Turzynski
publisher Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd

ENDS

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