Does Quality Count?
We’re just back from the 2007 Book Business Conference and Expo and planning for next year’s event. If you missed this year’s conference, check out some of the highlights on pages 10-14. It was humbling to be a part of this gathering of brilliant publishing minds, both speakers and attendees.
But with this year’s conference frenzy winding down, we head into another busy and exciting time of year, with our Gold Ink Awards competition.
If you’re not too familiar with the Gold Ink Awards, it’s the nation’s most prestigious print competition, founded 20 years ago, to recognize the finest in print production. We receive 1,500 entries in categories that run the full gamut of printed products. In books, winners are selected in book covers, book jackets, books-fine editions, children’s books, cookbooks, hardcover books and softcover books. Judges from various segments of the industry come to our offices to examine the entries during our four-day judging process.
Many people have commented that print has become a commodity, that quality no longer counts, but the winners of this competition disprove that theory hands down. The entry deadline for the 2007 Gold Ink Awards is May 2. You can find out more or download an entry form at GoldInk.com. If you’re interested in being a judge in this year’s competition, just e-mail me, briefly describing your qualifications. Judging will take place May 21-24. (And the Gold Ink Banquet, where the winners are honored, will be held Sept. 10, 2007, in Chicago.)
The Hall of Fame
This also is the time of year that Book Business and its sister publication Publishing Executive start evaluating nominations for the Publishing Executive Hall of Fame, another longtime tradition that recognizes the achievements of leading publishing executives in book, magazine, catalog and advertising production. Some of the inductees in the book industry over the past 16 years include: David Pelkey, Merriam-Webster; Anthony Crouch, University of California Press; Elizabeth Doble, John Wiley and Sons Inc.; Andrew Clowes, Thomson Learning; Ed McGill, Random House Inc.; Gerard Scanlon, Simon and Schuster; and many more.
