Gintong Aklat Awards
The prestigious GINTONG AKLAT AWARDS, established in 1981 and held every two years, are given out regularly to outstanding book publishers based on the quality of books they produce year after year. Managed by the Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP), the awards are meant to recognize excellence in bookmaking in the country today among its members.
The objective of the Awards is to recognize and encourage the production of quality books that are excellent in all aspects of bookmaking. Specific areas for recognition would include book production (printing, binding, etc.), content (writing and editing) and book design.
CATEGORIES
A. Trade books from the following categories may be entered:
Literature in English - Poetry, Drama, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Literature in Filipino - Poetry, Drama, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Arts and Humanities
Food
Inspiration
Self-Help
Science and Technology
Natural and Applied Sciences
Social Sciences
Graphic Literature
B. The best publishers will be voted on by the judges of all the above-stated categories to choose the following:
Best Literary Publisher - This award goes to the publisher voted to have the best literary works for the period covered by the Award;
Best Academic and Scholarly Publisher-This award goes to the academic and scholarly publisher voted by the judges to have contributed the most to the creation of knowledge in the categories of Science and Technology, Natural and Applied Sciences, and the Social Sciences during the period covered by the Award;
Best Independent Publisher-This award goes to the micro or small publisher, which despite its size, contributed to the pursuit of the improvement of Philippine society within the period covered by the Award;
Best Publisher in the Arts and Humanities-This award goes to the publisher voted to have the best works in the arts and humanities.
Best General Interest Publisher-This award goes to the publisher who contributed the most in the areas of food, inspiration, and self-help categories.
CRITERIA
A. Book entries shall be judged on the following criteria:
Quality of Production
Book Design
Content
This means an entry has to pass the first criterion before it can move on to the 2nd and 3rd levels.
An entry must pass production quality standards first before it can be assessed in terms of book design and content.
Entries to the Gintong Aklat Awards shall be judged not only on the outstanding merit
of their content but on the totality of the book as a physical book.
B. The category judges will be asked to vote for the best publishers based submitted books, keeping in mind the following:
Number of entries submitted to the categories judged;
Number of entries that have been judged as runner-up or winners;
Content quality of the publisher’s entries;
Contribution to culture and the body of knowledge of the works.
The judges may vote for an overall best publisher based on all the above-stated criteria. Votes will be consolidated, the publisher with the highest number of votes from the judges wins. The judges for each of the publisher categories will be given a list of the books for all the categories within their respective genres, aside from the books within their categories, to determine among the qualified publishers in their respective categories who might be chosen as the best publishers for the best publisher categories. (For example, the judges for poetry in English will also be given a list of books from the categories of fiction and nonfiction in English, as well as poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in Filipino.)
The BDAP Board may craft questionnaires to guide the judges in their choice of winners. Should there be a tie, the judges will be informed of the tie and they shall vote among themselves to break the tie.
ELIGIBILITY
The contest shall be open to all BDAP-member publishers. Non-BDAP members who publish in the category of Science and Technology are eligible to submit their entries.
Eligible are books published within the period from January 2020 to December 2021.
Revised/Expanded edition books are allowed, provided that twenty-five percent (25%) of the book’s content is new.
Each book/title can be entered in only one (1) category.
AWARDS
Grand winner and runner-up awards may be given in each category.
Trophies of recognition shall be awarded to the winners of each category.
The awarding ceremony will be held in September 2023, during the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF).
All winning books will be displayed in one designated exhibition area during the MIBF.
SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES
Entry Forms will be emailed to all BDAP-member publishers.
All entries must be submitted to:
BDAP Secretariat Office
1244 Amang Rodriguez Ave., Dela Paz, Pasig City 1600
Attention: Ms. Army Tapel
Every official entry shall be composed of the submission of seven (7) copies of the book accompanied by a properly accomplished Gintong Aklat Entry Form.
Deadline for the submission of entries is on April 16, 2023.
For more details and inquiries regarding Gintong Aklat Awards 2023, you may email the BDAP Secretariat office c/o Army Tapel at bdapsecretariat@gmail.com