Ishan Khosla wins the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2022
New Delhi, 25th March 2022: In celebration of 100 glorious years of Oxford Bookstore, the iconic bookstore chain announced the Winner of the seventh edition of Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize at a special evening hosted by Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group and creative force behind Oxford Bookstore chain Priti Paul and Art Advisor & Curator, India Habitat Centre, Dr. Alka Pande at the gorgeous lawns of India Habitat Centre.
The Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize, a first of its kind award for brilliance in book design, an attempt by the iconic bookstore to recognize and encourage the extraordinary work of illustrators, designers and publishers throughout India announced renowned visual artist, designer and researcher, Ishan Khosla as the Winner of the seventh edition of the prestigious prize. Ishan Khosla was felicitated with the award by Jurors Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Dr. Kunal Basu, Dr. Alka Pande, Priti Paul and Emmanuel Lebrun- Damiens at this beautiful gathering of designers, publishers, artists and book lovers. Khosla won the award for the book jacket of ‘Kintsugi’ authored by Anukrti Upadhyay, published by Fourth Estate.
In addition to the winning book cover, three more designers were honoured with Special Jury Awards in appreciation of their remarkable command of graphics and visual narrative. These designers are Maithili Doshi for ‘Turmeric Nation” published by Speaking Tiger; Shashi Bhushan Prasad for ‘The Maharaja of Jodhpur’s Guns” published by Niyogi Books and Gavin Morris for ‘Estuary’ published by Eka.
The final winner was selected by the distinguished jury, from a shortlist of six covers which was announced earlier in January at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2022. The jury for the seventh edition of the prize includes author and member of Parliament, Dr. Shashi Tharoor; author, columnist and novelist, Shobhaa De; author and academic, Dr. Kunal Basu; author, academic and museum curator, Dr. Alka Pande; Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group and the creative force behind the Oxford Bookstore chain, Priti Paul and Guest Juror, Director, French Institute in India, Emmanuel Lebrun- Damiens.
Celebrating the announcement of the winner of the 7th edition of the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize, Priti Paul, Director Apeejay Surrendra Group, said “In these times of uncertainly and anxiety caused by pandemic and war, it has been very exciting, indeed, to encounter so much style and substance in the excellent entries, to see the collaboration between graphics, illustrations, images and text. Book design and aesthetics are evolving every year, celebrating originality, creativity and reflecting reality. On the occasion of Oxford Bookstore’s Century in Books – and to reiterate our celebration of the best in publishing – we are proud to announce an important new initiative – the “First Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize”.
Speaking at the ceremony Juror, Dr. Kunal Basu said”Kintsugi is an astonishing book cover. Intricately illustrated, it conveys the superior craft of the creator, and draws one’s eyes into the heart of the book. The design has served each of the three purposes of a successful cover: ability to garner attention; imply the theme of the book, and achieve a high aesthetic standard. It has transformed the book into a precious artefact that is a pleasure to cherish and preserve.”
Winner Ishan Khosla said “The Apeejay Surrendra Group, Priti and Priya Paul have always been generous supporters of the arts and design in this country. This award goes a long way in undoing the damage of this old adage, “don’t judge a book by its cover”. For me personally it is an honour to have been given this prestigious award, the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2022 by the distinguished members of the jury.”
The evening also witnessed the announcement of the first Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize in collaboration with Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre. The special jury commissioned for the Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize include Ambassador of Brazil to India, H.E. André Corrêa do Lago, renowned architect & artist, Gautam Bhatia, renowned painter, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group and the creative force behind Oxford Bookstores, Priti Paul and author, academic and well-known museum curator, Dr. Alka Pande.
With a prize money of 1 Lakh Indian Rupees the Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize will holistically assess the variety of genres flourishing under the umbrella of the art publications. The aim of the Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize would be to identify the experiments with the narratives and material, critical approach to the subject, and innovative formats performed by the artists to give an explicit account of their practice. The new prize would move beyond its conventional definition and include accordion books, graphic novels, pop-up arts, photo books, and zines. Significantly, the Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize would acknowledge the role played by the books in the process of dissemination of the knowledge of art and culture while recognising the balance between print production, graphic illustration, and overall design appeal.