ABCD Awards 2026!
The 13th Annual Academy of British Cover Design awards took place last night (March 5th) at Gigi‘s in Hoxton and was attended by the best and brightest in the design community. Jamie Keenan was there too.
As usual, it was loud, hot and chaotic but it was wonderful to see so many creatives gathered together in one place for a night dedicated to the art of book cover design.
Nico Taylor returned once again as the evening’s emcee, and had the uneviable job of trying to corral the crowd and keep the show flowing smoothly. You did a brilliant job, Nico!
As always, a gigantic thank you to organisers Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan for putting the event together. I managed to get a selfie with the two legendary designers.
And here are this year’s winners!
Young Adult was presented by Richard Ogle and went to designer Arabella Jones and illustrator Muokkaa Studio for You’re Never Too Much.
Sci-Fi / Fantasy was presented by Arabella Jones and went to Suzanne Dean for Sunbirth. (Sadly, Suzanne couldn’t make it so her award was picked up by Matt Broughton.)
Non-Fiction was presented by Samuel Perrett and went to Ben Prior for Chasing the Dark.
Series Design was presented by Shreya Gupta, who came in all the way from New York, and went to Suzanne Dean for the Bolaño series.
Classic or Reissue was presented by Lydia Blagden and went to illustrator Nick Misani for Like Water for Chocolate. (The award was collected by the cover’s art director, Marianne Issa El-Khoury).
Children’s 0-5 went to designer Inês Amaral and illustrator Briony May Smith for Hogbert.
Children’s 6-12 went to designer Sasha Moxon and illustrator Natalia Shaloshvili for Bear.
Literary Fiction went to designer Daisy Bates and photographer Vanessa McKeown for Thirst Trap.
Crime or Thriller went to designer Lucy Scholes and illustrator Javier Jaén for Fair Play.
And lastly, Mass Market went to Patrick Insole for Hot Wax.
Congratulations to everyone who was shortlisted and, of course, the winners!
Can’t wait to do it all again in 2027!
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.