New Delhi, March 23 : The Oxford Bookstore chain on Thursday announced Ishan Khosla as the winner of seventh edition of the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize. Khosla was felicitated with the award by Jurors Shashi Tharoor, Kunal Basu, Alka Pande, Priti Paul and Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens at a distinguished gathering of designers, publishers, artists and book lovers. Khosla won the award for the book jacket of ‘Kintsugi,’ authored by Anukrti Upadhyay and published by Fourth Estate. Three more designers were honoured with Special Jury Awards in appreciation of their remarkable command of graphics and visual narrative. These include Maithili Doshi for ‘Turmeric Nation,’ published by Speaking Tiger; Shashi Bhushan Prasad for ‘The Maharaja of Jodhpur’s Guns,’ published by Niyogi Books, and Gavin Morris for ‘Estuary,’ published by Eka. Speaking on the occasion, Ishan said “The Apeejay Surrendra Group, Priti and Priya Paul have always been generous supporters of the arts and design in this country. This award goes a long way in undoing the damage of this old adage, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. For me personally, it is an honour to have been given this prestigious award, the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2022 by the distinguished members of the jury.” The final winner was selected from a shortlist of six covers, which were announced earlier in January at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2022. The jury for the seventh edition of the coveted prize includes author and member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor; author, columnist and novelist Shobhaa De; author and academician Kunal Basu; author, academician and museum curator Alka Pande; Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group and the creative force behind the Oxford Bookstore chain, Priti Paul and Guest Juror, Director, French Institute in India, Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens. Celebrating the announcement of winner, Priti Paul, Director Apeejay Surrendra Group said, “In these times of uncertainty and anxiety caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and war, it has been very exciting, indeed, to encounter so much style and substance in the excellent entries, to see the collaboration between graphics, illustrations, images and text. “Book design and aesthetics are evolving every year, celebrating originality, creativity and reflecting reality. On the occasion of Oxford Bookstore’s Century in Books – and to reiterate our celebration of the best in publishing – we are proud to announce an important new initiative – the ‘First Oxford Bookstore Art Book Prize’. Speaking at the ceremony Juror, Kunal said, “Kintsugi is an astonishing book cover. Intricately illustrated, it conveys the superior craft of the creator, and draws one’s eyes into the heart of the book. The design has served each of the three purposes of a successful cover – ability to garner attention; implying the theme of the book, and achieving a high aesthetic standard. It has transformed the book into a precious artefact that is a pleasure to cherish and preserve.” RKM RJ