In celebration of 100 glorious years of Oxford Bookstore, it announced the winner of the seventh edition of Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize at an evening hosted by Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group and creative force behind Oxford Bookstore chain Priti Paul and Art Advisor and Curator, India Habitat Centre, Dr Alka Pande at the lawns of India Habitat Centre.
Dr Kunal Basu with winner Ishan Khosla and Dr Shashi Tharoor
The Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize, a first of its kind award for brilliance in book design, an attempt by the iconic bookstore to recognise and encourage the extraordinary work of illustrators, designers and publishers throughout India announced renowned visual artist, designer and researcher, Ishan Khosla as the winner of the seventh edition of the prestigious prize. Khosla was felicitated with the award by Jurors Dr Shashi Tharoor, Dr Kunal Basu, Dr Alka Pande, Priti Paul, and Emmanuel Lebrun- Damiens at this gathering of designers, publishers, artists and book lovers. Khosla won the award for the book jacket of ‘Kintsugi’ authored by Anukrti Upadhyay, published by Fourth Estate.
In addition to the winning book cover, three more designers were honoured with Special Jury Awards in appreciation of their remarkable command of graphics and visual narrative. These designers are Maithili Doshi for ‘Turmeric Nation’ published by Speaking Tiger; Shashi Bhushan Prasad for ‘The Maharaja of Jodhpur’s Guns’ published by Niyogi Books and Gavin Morris for ‘Estuary’ published by Eka.
The final winner was selected by the distinguished jury, from a shortlist of six covers, which was announced earlier in January at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2022. The jury for the seventh edition of the prize includes author and member of Parliament Dr Shashi Tharoor; author, columnist and novelist Shobhaa De; author and academic Dr Kunal Basu; author, academic and museum curator Dr Alka Pande; Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group and the creative force behind the Oxford Bookstore chain Priti Paul; and Guest Juror, Director, French Institute in India Emmanuel Lebrun- Damiens. Khosla said, “This award goes a long way in undoing the damage of this old adage, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. It is an honour to have been given this prestigious award, the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2022 by the distinguished members of the jury.”