Årets vakreste bok 2020 (The Most Beautiful Book of the Year 2020) to Terje Abusdal and Gösta Flemming/Journal

Every year, Grafill arranges the competition Årets vakreste bøker 2020 (The Most Beautiful Books of the Year). The purpose is to honour practitioners in the visual part of the book industry. and inspire publishers, authors, graphic designers and illustrators to create quality books in all genres. Grafill wants to create awareness around the holistic thinking around book production, where all parts from publishers, authors, printers, designers and illustrators have practiced a high-quality craft that in turn ensures a richer and better reading experience.

The competition has several categories and in each category the jury can award a gold, a silver and two diplomas. Among all the submitted books, the jury also selects Årets Vakreste Bok 2020 (The Most Beautiful Book of the Year). The book wins based on an overall assessment of aesthetic requirements, functionality, structuring, design, illustration, imagery, choice of paper and binding. The jury consists of five experienced and knowledgable professionals.

Statement by Thale Blix Fastvold (chair in FFF):
"The photo book as a medium is important for showing the diversity of today's visual culture. As a correction and a complimenting contribution to all the thousands of other images and photographs we encounter on a daily basis through social media, news etc. - the nature of art photography is often questioning, thinking and challenging, and that is why it is needed!"

Årets vakreste bok 2020 (The Most Beautiful Book of the Year 2020) was awarded to Terje Abusdal and Gösta Flemming of Journal for the photo book Hope Blinds Reason.

The statement from the jury for the winning book:

A project that really stands out int he crowd with its uncompromising search for expressive power. Sharply executed with a perfect distillate of an obvious solid material. Insanely precise in every detail. Each spread hits you like a fist in the stomach, but steers precisely around the clichés. This is a book that will not let go. Surgically curated posters that communicate to each other: Bæm! Night. Blitz. Red. Black. Blue. Blood. Water. Nothing feels superfluous here. Few, but very strong photographs, collected in what becomes a very charged book about one of the most elementary of human experiences: love and loss.

More about the awards here:

https://www.grafill.no/avb/nyheter/dette-er-arets-vakreste-boker-2020