The Winners of the First Annual TBAS Letterpress Excellence Awards have been announced!

Last year letterpress printers and book artists were invited to submit work published during the 2009 and 2010 calendar years, to the First Annual TBAS Letterpress Excellence Awards. Private presses, independent publishers, and individual artists as well as trade and university presses were eligible to enter the competition in five general categories: hardback book, paperback book, artist's book, broadside, and ephemera. To be eligible, all entries had to be printed via letterpress and completed during the designated calendar years. Awards were selected on the basis of design, typography, materials, craftsmanship, creativity, and overall achievement by the associates of the Tampa Book Arts Studio. 

The winning entries will be featured in an exhibit opening at the University of Tampa in February and will be available for tour to libraries, book arts studios, and other venues for one year following the award.

These awards recognize excellence and achievement in contemporary letterpress printing and design: 

• Winner of the Broadside Category: Sara Parkel of Filter Press for her entry "Bamiyan."

• Runner-Up of the Broadside Category: Diane Fine of Moonkosh Press for her entry "Roundel."

• Winner of the Hardback Book Category: Graham Moss and Kathy Whalen of Incline Press for their entry Pangur Ban.

• Winner of the Paperback Book Category: Sara Parkel of Filter Press for her entry Egg and Dart.

• Winner of the Traditional Ephemera Category: Richard Kegler of P22 Type Foundry for his "P22 Club Membership Certificate."

• Winner of the Contemporary Ephemera Category: Martha Chiplis and Cathie Ruggie Saunders for their entry "Letterpress Luminaries." (shown in part below: including photoengraved block with featured celestial print)

 

• Winner of the Artist's Book Category: Rebecca Chamlee of Pie in the Sky Press for her entry Further Apocrypha.

  

Details on the opening of the TBAS Letterpress Excellence Awards Exhibit are still to be finalized and announced. For the latest letterpress news regarding TBAS you can follow The University of Tampa Press on Facebook.