The MCBA Prize is the first honor to recognize book art from across the field and around the world. The MCBA Prize celebrates the diversity of book art and encourages discussion rather than limiting recognition to one aspect of this vital field.

A jury of three distinguished leaders in the field of book arts will review all submissions, and narrow the field to five finalists. These five works will appear on display at Minnesota Center for Book Arts during Book Art Biennial 2013. From these five works, the jury will select the recipient of this year's MCBA Prize.

To submit your work to The MCBA Prize 2013 competition, or for more information on eligibility and submission guidelines, visit MCBAPrize.org.

MCBA Prize 2011

During our 2011 competition, our jury of three distinguished leaders in the field of book arts reviewed 147 submissions from over 150 artists, representing 22 nations around the world and all 7 continents of the Earth. The MCBA Prize was awarded to artist Sarah Bryant for her work, Biography. Four finalists and three honorable mentions were also named.

To view all 147 submissions and learn more about the winner, finalists, honorable mentions and jurors, visit The MCBA Prize 2011 online gallery.

"Biography is an examination of the chemical elements in the human body and the roles they play elsewhere in the world. This book grew out of my desire to use the periodic table, our visual method of categorizing every particle of matter in the universe, as a tool for creating a portrait of a human being, the viewer of the book. We are composed of a finite number of elements, each of which has a rich life outside of our bodies making up critical components of the physical world and the tools that we produce and use to measure and investigate that world.

"I work in book form because of the natural relationship between the book and the communication of information. Our visual vocabulary developed simultaneously with the development of the book. They have worked together for over a thousand years to encapsulate information, to preserve it and to pass it forward. Books also allow me to present a sequence; a book must be viewed spread by spread, and consequently I am able to guide the viewer through the piece in my own way, pacing their experience with folded pages, layered imagery and text."
- Sarah Bryant

Finalists:
Julie Chen, A Guide to Higher Learning
Brad Freeman, Wrong Size Fits All
Peter Malutzki, Stundenbuch
Ines von Ketelhodt, Die bessere Hälfte

Honorable Mention:
François Deschamps, Drone/1,2,3
Ann Lovett, Glass House
Veronika Schäpers, Yoko Tawada: Okonomiyaki 

JURORS' STATEMENT

"Judging the 2011 MCBA Prize competition was extraordinarily hard. Almost 150 books were submitted for consideration, and the sheer number of outstanding works from all over the world made our job very difficult. After much angst and hand-wringing, we have submitted to Minnesota Center for Book Arts a list of five finalists and three honorable mentions. However, we want to affirm that there were many, many other books we would have loved to include and give recognition to. Each of us were impressed and proud that the book arts field has matured to the point that so much work was exceptional. Congratulations to all of the finalists and honorable mentions, but also to all who submitted work for the competition."

AnneDorothee "Doro" Boehme
Curator and Special Collections Librarian, Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Barbara Tetenbaum
Associate Professor and Head of the Book Arts Department, Oregon College of Art and Craft

Philip B. Zimmermann
Professor of Visual Communications, College of Fine Arts of the University of Arizona