Designer Paramita Brahmachari's 'Pebble Monkey' wins Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize

The cover design for "Pebble Monkey", created by designer Paramita Brahmachari, has won the much coveted 8th edition of Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize.

The winners, announced here at the India Habitat Centre (IHC) on Monday, also included noted scenographer Satyabrata Rout's "Scenography: An Indian Perspective", which was adjudged winner of the debut edition of Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize.

Both winners -- Brahmachari and Rout -- were felicitated with a trophy, certificate and one lakh cash prize by the chair of Jury Alka Pande and Martine Aamdal Bottheim, Minister-Counsellor and Deputy head of Mission at Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi.

While Brahmachari, who could not attend the event, thanked Oxford Bookstore for having created and sustained a platform which focuses attention on the book as a "tactile and visual object" in her video message; Rout said the award has brought a "sense of confidence" in him.

"I'm immensely thankful to Oxford Bookstore for having created and sustained this platform which focuses attention on the book as a tactile, visual object and especially for the visibility it has brought to a small press like the Jadavpur University Press, which works with very limited resources. I am delighted and very honoured to receive this award and to have been considered by such a distinguished panel of juries," said the Kolkata-based designer.

Brahmachari's book design won the award after beating five shortlisted books -- including "Memory Police", "Birdwatching: A Novel", "Invisible Empire", "Shakti: An exploration of the Divine Feminine" and "The Muslim Vanishes" -- spanning across distinct genres and themes.

The jury members were noted politician-writer Shashi Tharoor, celebrated author-columnist Shobhaa De, eminent author Kunal Basu, art historian Alka Pande and Priti Paul, director of Apeejay Surrendra Group.

"Oxford Bookstore has been a forerunner in instituting two significant awards. One for the book cover design and now the art book prize. The book cover design has come of age and is now encouraging the creative process behind the making of the book and now the art book prize is another first," said Pande, chair of the jury.

In addition to the winning jacket, three more designers -- Leeza John for "The Memory Police", Bena Sareen for "Birdwatching: A Novel" and Ahlawat Gunjan for "Invisible Empire" -- were acknowledged by the jurors in appreciation of their remarkable command of graphics and visual narrative.

Ishan Khosla's cover for the novel "Kintsugi" had won the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2022.