The Most Beautiful Czech Books 2019
From the total of 313 titles of Czech production submitted to this year's 55th edition of the competition 'The Most Beautiful Czech Books 2019' organised by the Czech Ministry of Culture and the Museum of Czech Literature, the international jury gave awards for the book design of more than thirty books in seven basic categories. The results of the competition were announced in May rather untraditionally - online - through a video available on the website of the Museum of Czech Literature, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
The winner in the specialised literature category was the book Jdi na venkov! (Go out into the Country!) by the Arbor Vitae publishers focusing on folk traditions and visual culture in the villages. The Host publishing house from Brno successfully scored in the fiction and children's books categories. The first position in the fiction category was won by the titleMožnosti milostného románu (The Possibilities of a Romantic Novel) and the third place by the book of haikuMuž na pokraji vzplanutí (Man on the Verge of Ignition). The bookKlub divných dětí(The Club of Strange Children) came third in the children's literature category. The winning publication for children was the book about the Prague metroTo je metro čéče(This Is the Metro, Man) by the Paseka publishers. The first prize in the textbook category for the bookJak to ruplo (How It Broke Out)about the events in 1989 published by the Tourist Information Centre also goes out to Brno.
Among the other awarded titles the most enticing are publications from the area of fine arts. The bookPosel z Dálného východu (Messenger from the Far East)about the life of the collector of Asian art Vojtěch Chytil, published by the National Gallery in Prague, claimed the first prize in the category of books on the fine arts. The catalogue of the exhibitionVrchovina, krabatina, mrchovina(Molds, Hills and Highlands) by the 8smička Foundation received the first prize in the catalogues category. The authors of the catalogue's graphic design, Martin Odehnal and Štěpán Malovec, created the visuals for this year's competition.
The repeated showing of the exhibition The Most Beautiful Czech Books 2019 will take place in the Library of the Moravian Gallery from 9/12/2020 to 31/3/2021.
