Awards for the Best Books Published in 2021. The jury judged 153 works in the categories of Art, Bibliophilia, Facsimiles, Children’s and Young People’s Books, and General and Popular Works.

The Ministry of Culture and Sport has been awarded the Best Edited Books Awards for the year 2021. The purpose of this award is to recognize and stimulate the work of publishers in the edition of books and works. The prizes are not financially endowed, although they are highly valued by publishers for the recognition, and prestige they bring to their publishing work, as well as for the dissemination they entail since the winning books will subsequently be exhibited at the international book fairs LIBER, Frankfurt, and Leipzig. At the latter two fairs, which have a century-old tradition of bibliophilic art, the exhibition Best Book Design From All Over the World is on display, an international competition whose first edition began in the city of Leipzig in 1963 and for which each country sends the books that win its national competition each year. After the exhibition of the books at both German fairs, the works will be donated to the German Book and Type Museum in Leipzig. The jury judged 153 works in total, including five thematic groups. These are the winning works:

Art Books

First prize: Bestiario del Antropoceno, by Nicolas Nova & Disnovation.org; illustrations and graphic design by Maria Roszkowska; translation by Lia Peinador. Published by Ediciones Menguantes. Second prize: Fantasías en el Prado, by Alberto García-Alix; text by Manuela Mena. Published by La Fábrica Editorial. Third prize: PORCAR. Una mirada actual, by Pasqual Mercé Martínez. Published by La Horadada.

Bibliophile Books

First prize: Impresos Comuneros. Propaganda y legitimación política al fragor de las prensas, by Mercedes Fernández Valladares and Alexandra Merle; includes the facsimile reproduction of 8 documents dated between 1520 and 1522. Published by Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and the Castilla y León Foundation. Second prize: Ouka Leele. Supernova. Fotografías y dibujos. La galaxia de Bárbara Allende, by Bárbara Allende Gil de Biedma and VV.AA. Published by La Fábrica Editorial with the collaboration of Archivo Lafuente and PHotoESPAÑA. Third prize: El Camino de Santiago; texts by Hugo García; 15 original engravings and 1 woodcut by m.e.santiso. Published by Legado Gráfico.

Facsimile Books

First prize: La tía Tula cumple 100 años (1921-2021), by Miguel de Unamuno; accompanied by a prologue by Luis García Jambrina (26 pages), which includes the reproduction of a fragment of the author’s original manuscript. Published by Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.  Second prize: Las Rosas de Hércules, Book I, by Tomás Morales Castellano; original cover by Néstor Martín Fernández de la Torre; original flyleaves by José Hurtado de Mendoza; original vignettes by Miguel and Néstor Fernández de la Torre; editorial coordination by Pablo Cabrera Betancor and the Publishing Department; advice and documentation by Guillermo Perdomo Hernández and the Tomás Morales House-Museum; digital treatment by Sergio Hernández Peña. Published by the Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria. Third prize: Maxina ou a filla espuria, by Marcial Valladares Núñez; edition by Xesús Domínguez Dono; prologue by Xosé A. Fernández Salgado; layout by Hayat Husein; digitalization of the manuscript by Unayta. Published by Editorial Galaxia with the support of the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Universidade, and with the collaboration of the Real Academia Galega.

Books for Children and Young Adults

First prize: Romances de la Rata Sabia, by Paloma Díaz-Mas; illustrations by Concha Pasamar. Published by Bookolia.  Second prize: Sunakay, by Meritxell Martí; illustrations by Xavier Salomó. Published by Editorial Flamboyant. Third prize: Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain; illustrations by Antonio Lorente; prologue by Manuel Vilas; translation by Doris Rolfe. Published by Editorial Luis Vives (Edelvives).

General and Popular Works

First prize: Brassens, by Georges Brassens; illustrations by Emilio Urberuaga; translation by María Teresa Gallego Urrutia and Amaya García Gallego. Bilingual edition by Nórdica Libros. Second prize: Hércules 1417, by Pedro Víllora; illustrations by Das Pastoras; prologue and epilogue by José Villarrubia. Published by Nuevo Nueve Editores. Third prize: El més petit de tots, text and drawings by Lola Anglada i Sarriera. Published by Libros del Zorro Rojo.

Jury

The jury was chaired by Mª José Gálvez Salvador, general director of Books and Reading Promotion, and was formed by: Ricardo Santos Muñoz, for the Biblioteca Nacional de España; Antonio Moreno García, for the Club de Gráficos Eméritos; Vanessa Comino Lorente, for the Federación Empresarial de Industrias Gráficas de España; Miguel Barrero Maján, for the Federación de Gremios de Editores de España; Antonio Roque Rivero Rodríguez and Ana Cristina Juan Gascón, as experts in the field, and Teresa Goizueta Ruiz, for the Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte. Jury member Ricardo Santos Muñoz abstained from voting in the general works category as a book from the Biblioteca Nacional de España had been submitted.