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Best of the Year
Best Books of 2026
The books that won a GDUSA award in 2026, each with the firm and the designers credited.
6 award-winning projects
A book is the longest commitment a reader makes to a piece of design, and the cover is what wins that commitment at the shelf. The designer sets a typographic system a reader can live in for three hundred pages and a cover that sells the book at thumbnail size, for the publisher's list and the reader's shelf. The winners here are readable first and handsome because of it. Spectrum Creative's Hospitalitarian turned a hotelier's biography into a book built around the man's own philosophy, and Maverick Studios' Jimmy John's ABC book took a full page for making a sandwich chain's brand read as a bedtime story. The best book designers in the awards are collected here. Open any title to page through it and learn what made it work.
Standouts of 2026
- Wear Intelligence: Making Thinking Visibleby MAUGEDESIGN, LLC · 2026Featured Winner
- Endangered Species by Jeff Dennisby MAUGEDESIGN, LLC · 2026
- Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing Book Designby American Bar Association Design Marketing Department · 2026
- The Indian Child Welfare Act Handbookby American Bar Association Design Marketing Department · 2026
- HMH Read 180 Program Guideby HMH · 2026
- Get Set for School Letters & Literacy Teacher’s Guide + Get Set for School Letters & Literacy California Literature Guide and Resourcesby Learning Without Tears · 2026
Full Page2026
Wear Intelligence: Making Thinking Visible
Books
Firm
MAUGEDESIGN, LLC
View Project→
2026
Endangered Species by Jeff Dennis
Books
Firm
MAUGEDESIGN, LLC
View Project→
2026
Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing Book Design
Books
Firm
American Bar Association Design Marketing Department
View Project→
2026
The Indian Child Welfare Act Handbook
Books
Firm
American Bar Association Design Marketing Department
View Project→
2026
HMH Read 180 Program Guide
Books
Firm
HMH
View Project→
2026
Get Set for School Letters & Literacy Teacher’s Guide + Get Set for School Letters & Literacy California Literature Guide and Resources
Books
Firm
Learning Without Tears
View Project→
Featured
All Books
Common questions
- How many books won GDUSA awards in 2026?
- The gallery lists 6 winners from 2026 in this category, out of 133 across all years. Each one appears here with its firm and designer credits.
- Which firms won the most GDUSA awards for books in 2026?
- American Bar Association Design Marketing Department and MAUGEDESIGN, LLC share the top spot with 2 of the 2026 winners each. The ranking for the year lists every firm with its winning work. Best Books firms of 2026, by award wins.
- Where are the books from other years?
- Every year has its own page, from 2017 to 2026, and the category hub lists all of them together. All Books.
- How do I enter next year's awards?
- Entries go through the GDUSA entry platform. A single entry costs $120 as of October 2026, and packages bring the price per piece down to $400 for ten to twenty entries. Winners who publish get a project page here with full credits, and publication is the paid step. How the awards work.