Exhibition — Aug 26 until Oct 29, 2015

Annual presentation of the most outstanding book designs of the previous year (2015). A Dutch-Flemish jury selected fifty books: 33 Dutch publications and 17 Flemish titles. This year the contest introduces a new feature: a student jury. Following the same process as the expert jury, five students from different art schools picked their own selection.

In 2016, the Netherlands and Belgium shared the role of host country at the Frankfurter Buchmesse. For the latest edition, the Stichting Best Verzorgde Boeken and the Vlaamse Uitgevers Vereniging teamed up to select their nominations for the best of 2015. From a total of 408 submissions, the jury picked fifty titles: 33 Dutch publications and 17 Flemish book designs.

THE JURY

The Dutch-Flemish jury comprised: Koen Brams (previously director of the Jan van Eyck Academie and former editor-in-chief of De Witte Raaf), Luc Derycke (designer, Ghent), Carolien Glazenburg (curator, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Freek Kuin (creative director of drukkerij robstolk) and Wouter Roelants (book-seller and publisher). Four of the nominated titles – Other Evidence, Blindfold, Brick and Het Meest Geloofde Sprookje – were also among this year’s prize-winning designs, picked by the international panel of the Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt in Leipzig. The 2016 edition of The Best Dutch Book Design introduced a new feature: following the same process as the expert jury, five students from different art schools arrived at their own selection. Two screens in the exhibition present the total number of submitted designs, as well as those selected by the student panel.

TRADITION

The exhibition of The Best Dutch Book Design has a long-standing tradition at the Stedelijk Museum. The inaugural presentation was mounted in 1932. With a few exceptions, the Stedelijk has mounted the exhibition every year. The Dutch Best Verzorgde Boeken is the oldest contest of its kind in Europe to be judged by an expert jury.