We are excited to share the selected entries for the 2023 Association of University Presses Book, Jacket, and Journal Show with you. This year’s show features 83 entries as selected by Jason Alejandro, Jayme Yen, Anna Jordan, and Amanda Weiss. Judging for this year’s Book, Jacket, and Journal Show took place at the AUPresses Central Office in New York City in January 2023. You can browse selections in each category below or read the full press release.
2023 Selections by Category
Scholarly Typographic | 11 selections
Scholarly Illustrated | 4
Trade Typographic | 7
Trade Illustrated | 6
Poetry & Literature | 3
Journals | 1
Reference | 0
Book Jackets & Covers | 51
Member presses submitted 488 publications:
Scholarly Typographic | 42 entries
Scholarly Illustrated | 39
Trade Typographic | 32
Trade Illustrated | 34
Poetry & Literature | 19
Journals | 2
Reference | 6
Jackets & Covers | 314
The Jurors
books and journals
Jason Alejandro is a Puerto Rican graphic designer and educator based in New Jersey. He is currently an Assistant Professor at The College of New Jersey. Jason has produced award-winning design work for publishers and institutions of higher education. His professional experience includes roles in environmental graphic design and art direction, including 8 years as a book designer at Princeton University Press. Jason’s work has been recognized by Communication Arts, AUPresses, The New York Book Show, and the Society of Typographic Arts. He holds an MFA in Graphic Design from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BFA from Kean University.
Jayme Yen is a Seattle-based graphic designer and design educator. Her work has been part of exhibitions in The Netherlands, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic. As an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design, she teaches classes in publication design and information visualization. Her teaching focuses on rethinking approaches to publication formats and reading experiences. Her work has been recognized by AIGA’s 50 Books | 50 Covers competition. Jayme is also a co-founder and co-organizer of the Seattle Art Book Fair, a free annual festival that celebrates independent publishing, book design, and books-as-art.
jackets and covers
Anna Jordan designs book covers from her studio in Rochester, New York, USA. Her award-winning artwork explores the intersection of typography and materials. In 2015, PRINT Magazine named Anna one of the best New Visual Artists: 15 Under 30. Her work is exhibited internationally and featured in many design publications. Anna earned her BFA in Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design, and her MFA in Design/Visual Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts. She is Assistant Professor in the MFA Visual Communication Design program at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Amanda Weiss is a freelance designer based out of Nashville, TN. From 2014 to 2017 she worked as a book designer at Princeton University Press, learning the ins and outs of how to design covers and interiors, before launching into freelance full-time. She now works for a variety of clients including university presses, indie publishers, and trade publishers. Her work has been recognized by AUPresses, AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers, and the New York Book Show. Her hobbies include gardening, birding, and knitting.
About the Book, Jacket, and Journal Show
The Association of University Presses Book, Jacket, and Journal Show honors excellence in design produced by its member presses. The show recognizes meritorious achievement in the design, production, and manufacture of books, jackets, covers, journals, and digital publications by members of the university press community. 2023 marks the 58th anniversary of this book show.
What you may notice first about the publications by AUPresses members is the wide variety of subjects, forms, and approaches to disseminating scholarship. This variety reflects the diversity of the members themselves. Some members are among the very largest scholarly publishers in the world while other presses are offices with small staffs and limited resources. It also reflects the variety of new forms and formats available to publishers including digital and print-on-demand technologies in addition to offset printing. The budgets for the publications themselves reflect the market needs of the individual project, the press’s resources at hand, and decisions a press makes about physical aspects of the publication. What unites these books, however, is something you cannot see. It is the fact that these publications have been subject to the rigorous standards of peer review.
The design and production aspects of these publications are also integral to the very mission of the Association. Excellent design contributes to a book or journal’s reception and its impact in the larger world.
In addition to recognizing excellent work, the AUPresses Book, Jacket, and Journal Show provides an evaluation of members’ work and serves as a focus of discussion and a source of ideas for intelligent, creative, and resourceful bookmaking. The 2023 show will include books published by AUPresses members in 2022 and jackets and covers of books published that year. Books may have been manufactured anywhere in the world, but imports, and copublications designed and produced by a with a foreign publisher, are not eligible.
Through the show, and its acclaimed annual catalog, the Association seeks to expand the conversation about the essential importance of good design in scholarly publishing.
Special thanks to the 2022–2023 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show Committee
Mindy Basinger Hill, Washington, Co-Chair
Wendy McMillen, Notre Dame, Co-Chair
Jennifer Blanc-Tal, Rutgers
Kevin Barrett Kane, California
Mark Lerner, Fordham
Lori Lynch, Alabama
Isaac Morris, New Mexico
Peter Perez, North Carolina
Regina Starace, Penn State
Carrie Downes Teefey, Wayne State
David Zielonka, Stanford
Kate Kolendo, Communications Program Manager, AUPresses