The West Virginia University Press has won several publishing awards this year.The revival of the WVU Press started in 1999 when Pat Conner became director, according to Mary Ellen Mazey, dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
The West Virginia University Press has won several publishing awards this year.
The revival of the WVU Press started in 1999 when Pat Conner became director, according to Mary Ellen Mazey, dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
"Under the direction of Pat Conner, the WVU Press has become a premier academic press on par with the best in the country.
"Its work with high-caliber academics and scholars, coupled with a commitment to design, produces first-rate quality publications," Mazey said.
"The Potomac Canal: George Washington and the Waterway West," filled with historic photographs and diagrams, portrays Washington's efforts to link the nation's rivers with canals.
Written by Robert Kapsch, "The Potomac Canal" was this year's ForeWord Magazine's Silver Winner in history chosen by a panel of book sellers and librarians.
ForeWord is a trade journal devoted to books issued by independent publishers.
Four other WVU Press books were nominated for ForeWord's annual Book of the Year awards: "Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster" by Davitt McAteer, "Defending the Homeland" edited by Melinda M. Hicks and C. Belmont Keeney, "Bringing Down the Mountains" by Shirley Burns and "The Way Things Always Happen Here" by Kevin Stewart.
WVU Press also received awards from the Annual Independent Publisher Book Award program, American Institute of Graphic Arts 50 Books/50 Covers competition and Washington Book Publishers' 2008 Book Design and Effectiveness Awards.
"The Potomac Canal" was accepted into the prestigious AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers competition and is now among 50 finalists.
The AIGA is placing copies of those 50 finalists in the rare books and manuscripts collection at Nicholas Murray Butler Library at Columbia University and the AIGA Design Archives at the Denver Art Museum.
"The Potomac Canal" was also honored at the Washington Book Publishers' 2008 Book Design and Effectiveness Awards, placing second in two categories honoring cover and content design.
The West Virginia University Press has won several publishing awards this year.
The revival of the WVU Press started in 1999 when Pat Conner became director, according to Mary Ellen Mazey, dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
"Under the direction of Pat Conner, the WVU Press has become a premier academic press on par with the best in the country.
"Its work with high-caliber academics and scholars, coupled with a commitment to design, produces first-rate quality publications," Mazey said.
"The Potomac Canal: George Washington and the Waterway West," filled with historic photographs and diagrams, portrays Washington's efforts to link the nation's rivers with canals.
Written by Robert Kapsch, "The Potomac Canal" was this year's ForeWord Magazine's Silver Winner in history chosen by a panel of book sellers and librarians.
ForeWord is a trade journal devoted to books issued by independent publishers.
Four other WVU Press books were nominated for ForeWord's annual Book of the Year awards: "Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster" by Davitt McAteer, "Defending the Homeland" edited by Melinda M. Hicks and C. Belmont Keeney, "Bringing Down the Mountains" by Shirley Burns and "The Way Things Always Happen Here" by Kevin Stewart.
WVU Press also received awards from the Annual Independent Publisher Book Award program, American Institute of Graphic Arts 50 Books/50 Covers competition and Washington Book Publishers' 2008 Book Design and Effectiveness Awards.
"The Potomac Canal" was accepted into the prestigious AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers competition and is now among 50 finalists.
The AIGA is placing copies of those 50 finalists in the rare books and manuscripts collection at Nicholas Murray Butler Library at Columbia University and the AIGA Design Archives at the Denver Art Museum.
"The Potomac Canal" was also honored at the Washington Book Publishers' 2008 Book Design and Effectiveness Awards, placing second in two categories honoring cover and content design.
McAteer's book on the Monongah mine disaster won an IPPY Bronze Medal in national history, a category that also honored books published by W.W. Norton, Harvard University Press and Yale University Press.
This year's IPPY contest attracted 3,175 entries from 49 states, nine provinces in Canada and 16 other countries.
"The WVU Press is happy to be ranked with these distinguished presses," Conner said. "This effort is the culmination of the work of many dedicated and talented people."
"The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart" by M. Glenn Taylor, just published by WVU Press, is one of the 15 books Barnes and Noble will promote, beginning in August, in all its 800 stores across the country as part of its "Discover Great New Writers" program.
Conner believes university presses play a special role in preserving and promoting information about regional history, society and wildlife.
"You need dedicated publishers who understand that high-quality research in history and culture of their regions is exceedingly important," Conner said.
"It is difficult for a commercial press to do that, since they have to sell 10,000 copies of a book to keep their company going. University presses have a variety of means to finance their operations," he said.
WVU Press also publishes a variety of illustrated volumes on Appalachian forests, rivers, trees, wildflowers, animals and birds.
The press will soon publish a book on macro-fungi - mushrooms that grow on dead oak trees.
Last week, the press received an order for that book from a specialty distributor who deals solely with books about mushrooms.
"A university press plays a very important role as a voice in our world today," Conner said.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 348-5164.
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