With each subsequent Re-Covered Books contest, I feel like the entries keep getting better and better. With The Wonderful Wizard of Oz contest, we had a batch of entries that felt really fresh and contemporary, which made for a tough decision on my part. After some consideration though, I decided that Paul Bartlett was the winner of the contest.

More than any other entries, I thought his cover captured the wonder of the book as well as the cultural idea we have about Wizard of Oz. When I opened his entry, I kind of gasped as I was amazed he was able to sync these images up so perfectly. It’s also important to note that the image of the cat eyes, paired with the young girls slightly opened mouth is a perfect combination. The effect is that she’s a wide-eyed young girl who’s experiencing a fantastic new world.

I’m also glad that he took the time to pay attention to the piece’s typography. A lot of the entries I received faltered because the type wasn’t considered or wasn’t quite up to snuff. Paul was really smart about making the text fit into the spaces between his images. I also like that he dropped in the serif, italic font for ‘the’ and of’, giving more space to the words that really mattered. The quote on the back from L. Frank Baum, which I can’t really read, is a nice touch, as is his signature.

Great work, Paul. I think you killed it.

Some of you asked for me to review some of the runner-up entries, so I’ll be posting about that tomorrow. There were a lot of really great entries that I think should certainly be noted.

After a slew of beautiful entries, I’ve chosen my winner for the Romeo and Juliet Re-Covered Books contest – Christopher Porter. Chris is a designer from Falmouth, Cornwall who wanted to create something contemporary:

I’ve tried to go with a direction that would appeal to younger generations, the Irvine Welsh generation, the sort of people who are more than likely to judge a book by it’s cover.

I think he’s done exactly that. I like his cover for a few reasons – typography, color palette and choice of image. As with a lot of entries, typography, or the lack there of, tends to be a major problem. Chris uses only two typefaces, both of which are appropriately used. The script used for William Shakespeare is so damn beautiful and gives his name such life, it’s a perfect application.

As for the imagery, I love this old photo he found of a dead couple. What I find most interesting is that they aren’t perfect of beautiful, they’re real people. They might not be the correct age, but I think that’s ok. I’m sure we’ve all felt that yearning for true love at many stages in our lives, and this reflects that in some ways. I also love the addition of “Love Is Toxic”, which makes me think of Britney Spears, and I’m guessing others would as well. Overall this one felt the strongest, especially because he created a whole package to show the full idea. Well done Christopher!

Check back in the new year for our next contest, and if you have any suggestions for books you’d like to see, please put them in the comments.

Bobby