Cedar and Salt wins Alcuin Society Award for Excellence in Book Design

TouchWood Editions is thrilled to announce that Cedar and Salt by DL Acken and Emily Lycopolus is the joint First Prize winner of a 2019 Alcuin Society Award for Excellence in Book Design. TouchWood designer Tree Abraham is the recipient of the award. The announcement was made October 7, 2020.

Featuring more than 100 recipes that showcase the best of Vancouver Island’s homegrown and locally produced ingredients, Cedar and Salt: Vancouver Island Recipes from Forest, Farm, Field and Sea tied for First Prize in the Reference category. Thoughtfully curated by islanders Acken and Lycopolus, and beautifully photographed by Acken, it is a celebration of the incredible foods to be experienced on Vancouver Island.

According to the Alcuin Society, this is the only national competition for book design in the country, presenting first, second, and third prizes as well as honorable mentions to Canadian-published books. For this year’s competition, there were submissions of more than 237 books published by more than 112 publishers in 2019. Judges Teresa Bubela, Emma Novotny, and Matt Warburton selected 53 winning titles across eight categories. The co-winner of First Prize in the Reference category is Living High Off the Hog by Michael Olson, designed by Jennifer Griffiths.

As a winning title, Cedar and Salt will be exhibited in Edmonton at the University of Alberta at the fabs Gallery, and, provided the 2021 bookfair in Leipzig, it will be displayed at the Stiftung Buchkunst area. As well, it will be shown at two exhibits in Japan: at the Printing Museum in Tokyo, and at a library in Nara.

Cedar and Salt is also the winner of a 2020 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for the Best Book on Food Tourism in the Canadian competition, it was a finalist for the 2020 BC and Yukon Book Prizes’ Bill Duthie Bookseller’s Choice Award, and is shortlisted for the 2020 Taste Canada Awards in the Regional/ Cultural category—winners will be announced on October 25, 2020.

Tree Abraham is a Canadian-born designer living and working in New York City. She has been creating books for TouchWood Editions since 2016.

For the full list of winners, please visit The Alcuin Society.