Struck By Gold

And the winners of the 17th annual Gold Ink Awards are …

As summer rolls into fall, it's time once again to announce, and display on these pages, the winners in the book competition of the 2004 Gold Ink Awards, which has earned the respect of some of the most renowned producers of printed material in the industry.

Over the course of three days, our esteemed judges poured over entries in 46 categories, including eight book categories, debating the merits and sweating over each nuance of the 1,574 submissions before bestowing a gold, silver or bronze designation on a winner. It was tiring work that sparked enough spirited discussion to keep our judges busy for four days.

Two categories—jackets and textbooks—were judged separately this year, along with the returning six categories—hardcover, children's books, cookbooks, fine editions, soft cover and covers.

The print competition didn't require those who submitted entries to perform a backflip or swim an individual medley to qualify, as some Olympic athletes had to, but they did wait several months—between the time they mailed their entry and judgment day—before knowing if their submission would put them on the Gold Ink podium.

Some of the factors that the judges were compelled to consider included how difficult the project was from a production standpoint, the quality of the materials that were used, and how well the materials were manufactured and integrated.

"The two things that stand out are, first, the amazing prevalence of new imaging technology on press, high-definition stochastic imaging in particular," says Christopher Farrell, associate creative director at Rodale Press. "On some very high-end pieces it was impossible to imagine that any technical improvement might still exist, [and it seemed] that we might actually be at the very limits of what can be accomplished with ink on paper.