The most artistically valuable books of the last year were awarded

In the “Reference literature” category, the book “From Arcadia to Mars. Life in Riga Parks” written by Anda Boluža was awarded. The author of the book design is Dārta Hoffmann. The book was printed in the Jelgava printing house and published by the Latvian National Library.

The book “From Gas to Solid” by Aija Poles won the “Golden Apple” as the most artistically valuable art publication. The book “From Gas to Solid” was designed by Muraško. It was printed in Jelgava printing house, the book was published by “Ownpet Publishing”.

The jury of the competition awarded the title “Artist of the Year” to the designer Muraško. He receives this award for the third time.

The jury’s special prize for the young designer “Stikla abols” was awarded to Klāvas Priedītis. The jury points out that the author’s voice can be felt in the books created by Priedīš – the point of view of a young designer who is not afraid to get lost in the studies of the history of graphic design. The jury awarded the second special prize to Aleksandra Runde for her artistic performance in creating the book “What to do if you are naked in the city”. The jury awarded a special prize “for the ability to sensitively and friendly in the language of images to invite people to simply accept themselves and those around them. For the ability to find an ideal form for the stories of their drawings in the form of a printed book”.

Artist and book designer Aldis Aleks received the award for lifetime contribution to the book industry.

The winners of the competition were presented with a prize – an apple cast in bronze in a wooden box, the authors of which were Maija Vīksne and Ivars Miķelsons. Recipients of the “Artist of the Year” and “Lifetime Contribution to Bookkeeping” awards were awarded cash prizes.

This year, 33 publishers submitted a total of 94 books to the competition. The “Golden Apple” book art competition is based on the idea of ​​a book as a work of art created by specialists in many fields, which reveals the artistic whole of the book’s content and form. In the opinion of the Latvian Publishers’ Association, the design of the book reflects the artistic understanding of its time, the possibilities of printing and paper manufacturers for a more complete disclosure of the book’s content. The purpose of the competition is to promote the growth of the professional and artistic level of book publishing and to develop readers’ understanding of book art.