Are you an artist who has published a book? If so, you have until Nov. 15 to enter to win $1,500 in the Art Gallery of York University’s (AGYU's) fourth annual Artists’ Book of the Moment (ABotM) competition. The AGYU launched the competition as a way of recognizing the extensive genre of artists’ books, defined as works of art in the form of books.
Winnipeg artist/writer Rob Kovitz’s Ice Fishing in Gimli won the inaugural 2010 ABotM competition. The eight-volume image/text montage bookwork, set in a small town by a frozen lake in the uncharted centre of Canada, is a saga of desire, ambition, weather and landscape.
All entries to the ABotM competition will appear on the AGYU website from submission date (give or take) to the announcement of the shortlist. The shortlist of ABotMs will be announced online in December. The books so deigned will be available for public browsing in the AGYU lobby bookstore located on the ground floor of the Accolade East Building on York University's Keele campus. The ABotM 2013 finalists will be revealed in January 2014 and the winning entry will receive $1,500.
Full contest rules and submission guidelines are available on the ABotM webpage on the AGYU website. Here is some advice and a few key points to keep in mind:
- Browse the shortlist titles from previous years (look to the left for links).
- Read the full rules available on the AGYU website.
- Complete an online ABotM submission information document (available online, here).
- Send the book(s) to be considered for the ABotM competition to the AGYU. Be sure to include contact information with each entry. Books must be received by Nov. 15. Do not send the books "collect on delivery".
- Send three digital images of each book submitted to ABotM@theAGYUisOutThere.org (shortest dimension of at least 400 pixels).
- Wait for the results of the adjudication.
- All books submitted to the ABotM competition should already be published (e.g. no prototypes or maquettes) and exist in editions of more than 20 or as open editions. The ABotM is directed towards content-driven artists' books.
- For the purposes of this contest, the AGYU judges will not consider catalogues, portfolios or promotional material.
- There are no restrictions on date or location of production. There is no limit on the number of submissions that an artist can make.
There is no submission fee. No submissions will be returned, however. At the end of the competition, all works will be placed in the AGYU artists’ book resource centre or in another suitable collection.
Those retained by the AGYU will continue to be accessible to the public by appointment.
Online submission form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2013ABotM.
Mailing address:
The Art Gallery of York University, attn: ABotM
Accolade East Building
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3