2009 ECPA BOOK COVER AWARDS

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announces today the winners of the 2009 ECPA | dp Book Cover Award. The competition, sponsored by ECPA and Dickinson Press, recognizes the industry’s most on-target book covers that intentionally and intelligently connect the cover’s design components to their intended consumer. The program is based on RISC consumer research that identifies four primary consumer profile groups and their buying patterns and motivations.

The most common consumer profile targeted among this year’s entries was “Inclusives” – those who are open to change, community-oriented, and favor diversity, well-being and cultural experiences. “This consumer prefers bright colors, bold fonts, optimistic images and a sense of order,” says Rick Hamm, Director of RISC Research at Marshall Marketing and the award program’s judging manager. “Three of the four profiles are represented in the list of winners. Each did an exemplary job in tailoring their design to their target audience and we are very pleased to award them the honor of an ECPA | dp Book Cover Award.”

The 2009 ECPA | dp Book Cover Award Winners in each category are:

BEST COVER: BIBLES
HCSB Ultrathin Bible in Varsity Colors
Holman Bible Editorial Staff (B&H Publishing), Greg Pope, Art Director; Roy Roper, Designer

BEST COVER: SMALL-SIZED PUBLISHER
Your Intercultural Marriage
Marla Alupoaicei (Moody Publishers), Smartt Guys, Designer

BEST COVER: MID-SIZED PUBLISHER
Taking a Stand for the Bible
John Ankerberg and Dillon Burroughs (Harvest House Publishers), Dugan Design Group, Designer

BEST COVER: LARGE PUBLISHER
Deliberate Simplicity
Dave Browning (Zondervan), Rob Monacelli, Designer

Fourteen ECPA member publishers submitted a record number of 94 covers for consideration in this year’s competition. The winners were announced today at a PUBu online webinar where Hamm expounded on the RISC consumer research and how each winner was chosen. A download of that webinar is available on the ECPA website. Also available for download is the webinar, The Science Behind Great Book Cover Design: Connecting with your Consumer.

“The ECPA | dp Book Cover Award encourages, identifies and celebrates outstanding design in Christian publishing and we extend our congratulations to each of the winning publishers and their marketing, editorial and design teams for producing the most on-target covers of the year,” expressed ECPA President and CEO Mark Kuyper.