Winners of the Premio a las Mejores Encuadernaciones Artísticas (an award presented for the best artistic binding by the government of Spain) were announced recently. The book of choice this year was a Spanish edition of the Marks of Identity (Señas de identidad) by an award winning author Juan Goytisolo. The book depicts Spanish society in the quarter of a century that follows the Spanish Civil War. Structure of the book is not a standard one, with whole sections entirely without punctuation.

12,000-euro prize provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport was split between the first three places: 6,000 euro for the first place, 4,000 euro for the second place and 2,000 for the third place.

María del Carmen Villalba Caramés (Reditus), photo by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport Carlos Montoya Montoya (Nacam), photo by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport Zigor Anguiano Calzada (Privaciones), photo by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport

The first prize was awarded to María del Carmen Villalba Caramés for the Reditus. Carlos Montoya Montoya with Nacam received the second prize. We have reached Zigor Anguiano Calzada, who have got the third prize for his Privaciones, and he agreed to answer a couple of questions.

iBookBinding: Is there any personal relationship with Marks of Identity for you?

Zigor Anguiano Calzada: I prefer to have a personal relationship with the book but it is not always possible. At least I try to read parts of the book and articles about it to have a starting point. However, my best bindings are with the books I have connected emotionally.

iBB: Still it seems you have found some sort of connection with Marks of Identity that allowed you to get to the third place.

ZAC: Yes… May be more with the author and his thinking.

iBB: You have changed the dimensions of the book. Why?

ZAC: I needed a motivation. The original dimensions where terrible. Unfortunately, editions selected for this contest are not special ones. They are just common editions you can buy in a bookshop for 19.90€. I needed to break that connection and took the decision to change dimensions and make a “double square”. Even if I know, many people don’t like it.

iBB: Did you have any chance to check others’ participants books?

ZAC: I have not seen the other two winning books. But, I have seen the works of two of the finalists and they look very well.

Below you can find images from the personal blog of Zigor Anguiano Calzada.

Photo by Zigor Anguiano Calzada

Three finalists are Guadalupe Roldán Morales (Ravvena), Pablo Otero Pino (Tránsito) and Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). You can find more photos of the work of Guadalupe Roldán Morales at her Facebook account.

And here is the binding of Isabel Palmero Valladolid (photos via J.l. Kuevas):

Spanish Best Artistic Binding Award 2015 Finalist – Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). Photo via J.l. Kuevas: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769238642 Spanish Best Artistic Binding Award 2015 Finalist – Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). Photo via J.l. Kuevas: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769238642 Spanish Best Artistic Binding Award 2015 Finalist – Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). Photo via J.l. Kuevas: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769238642 Spanish Best Artistic Binding Award 2015 Finalist – Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). Photo via J.l. Kuevas: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769238642 Spanish Best Artistic Binding Award 2015 Finalist – Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). Photo via J.l. Kuevas: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769238642 Spanish Best Artistic Binding Award 2015 Finalist – Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). Photo via J.l. Kuevas: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769238642 Spanish Best Artistic Binding Award 2015 Finalist – Isabel Palmero Valladolid (Huellas). Photo via J.l. Kuevas: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769238642

There were 51 works applied for the competition. Our congratulations to the winners and finalists!

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