Judging

We are pleased to announce Scott Vander Zee, Independent graphic designer, typeface designer, and educator, will serve as the chair of this year's competition! 

"Books are the synthesis of design’s most profound sensibilities and offer its most impactful outputs. I value book design competitions not for their validation and negation of a selection of entrants, but for the chance to fill a space with printed artifacts and print-minded people, engage with them and each other, and discourse what key factors merit further recognition and celebration—be it based on audience, content, care, craft, experimentation, nuance, poetics, politics, production, quality, representation, and/or technique.

To that end, while talking with the AIGA about being this year’s Juror Chair, I asked if the jurying could take place in person—in order to truly grasp the quality of the entries by being able to handle them, sense them in every way. I couldn’t be happier for that to be the case this year, and am excited to spend time with this year’s entries and my fellow jurors in the 2026 edition of the AIGA’s 50 Books / 50 Covers competition."  — Scott Vander Zee, Independent graphic designer, typeface designer, and educator (50 Books | 50 Covers Juror Chair)

Jurors for this competition will evaluate each work’s integrated design approach, including concept, innovation and visual elements such as typography, illustration, and/or information design. 

In recent decades, jurors have included Antonio Alcalá, Michael Bierut, Andrew Blauvelt, Michael Carabetta, Arthur Cherry, Laura Coombs, Richard Eckersley, Vanessa Eckstein, Barbara Glauber, Carin Goldberg, Hilary Greenbaum, Jessica Helfand, Maricris Herrera, Jerry Herring, David High, Yasuyo Iguchi, Brian Johnson, Chip Kidd, Lisa Lucas, Eric Madsen, Peter Mendelsund, Jennifer Morla, Lars Müller, Silas Munro, Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo, Molly Renda, Jill Shimabukuro, Lucille Tenazas, Kimberly Varella, Kelly Walters, Cheryl Towler Weese, Jack Woody, Ramon Tejada, Renata Graw, Xiaoqing Wang, and many more.

Read what Michael Bierut had to say in the Design Week article, “‘Books remain stubbornly, thrillingly relevant’: the enduring value of book design” (January 2020), and The New Yorker, “Who Isn’t a Sucker for a Foldout?” (October 2020).
 

Scott Vander Zee (Chair)
Graphic & Typeface Designer; Educator, Pratt Institute & Parsons—The New School
Scott Vander Zee is a New York–based graphic and typeface designer whose work centers on book and editorial design, systems, and custom typography. His projects have received international recognition, including The Best Book Design from All Over the World (Golden Letter), The Most Beautiful Swiss Books, The Most Beautiful German Books, and AIGA’s 50 Books / 50 Covers.

In 2024, Scott juried The Best Book Design from All Over the World in Leipzig and The Beauty of Books in China in Shanghai. In 2025, he served as a juror for AIGA’s 50 Books / 50 Covers in New York. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute’s Graduate School of Design and a Visiting Professor at Parsons—The New School, where he teaches courses in book and editorial design, design systems, and typeface design.

 

Alberto Rigau
Creative Director, Estudio Interlínea
Alberto Rigau is a Puerto Rico–based graphic designer, educator, and book designer whose practice focuses on narratives, context, and culture. For more than 20 years, he has designed books and publication systems spanning museum catalogues, exhibitions, and research-driven editorial projects that connect design with history and place.
 

Through Estudio Interlínea, he works at the intersection of anthropology and design, treating each book as a portable exhibition and lasting cultural record. Alberto has taught in Puerto Rico and the U.S., integrating book design and typography into his courses, and has served in national leadership roles with AIGA and the AIGA Design Educators Community.

Julia Schäfer
Design Director, MoMA PS1
Julia Schäfer is a Brooklyn-based designer from Basel and Design Director at MoMA PS1, where she works across exhibitions, publications, and institutional communications. She has previously worked with publishers and agencies in Europe and the US. She has been a guest critic at Parsons, Pratt, VCU, the School of Visual Arts, Zurich University of the Arts, and Yale University. 
Her work explores the means of the relationships between design, technology, and contemporary art. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Art.

Jonathan Silberman
Owner, Fearless Future
Jonathan Silberman is an award-winning graphic designer, coder, and author who helps nonprofits and educational institutions promote their services and tell their stories. In the past 20 years, his designs have garnered awards from multiple graphic design publications such as HOW, Print, and Graphic Design USA. 
Jonathan serves on the AIGA Baltimore board as Interactive Web Director. 

Kelly Walters
Founder & Creative Director, Bright Polka Dot; Director, BFA Communication Design, Parsons School of Design
Kelly Walters is an artist and designer and the founder of Bright Polka Dot, a multidisciplinary studio creating exhibitions, installations, publications, and digital experiences for cultural and commercial institutions. Her work has been recognized by Graphis, It’s Nice That, Communication Arts, The One Club, and the Graham Foundation.
She is the author of Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators: Conversations on Design and Race and The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection. Kelly is an Associate Professor and Director of the BFA Communication Design program at Parsons School of Design.

Lauren Vajda
Creative Director & Founder, Verso Design
Lauren Vajda is a designer and creative director with more than 20 years of experience across publishing, education, nonprofit, and technology sectors. She began her career at HarperCollins, where she developed a lasting appreciation for the material qualities of communication.

Her work spans identity, digital, book, and communication systems, grounded in strategic thinking and long-term impact. Lauren is the founder of Verso Design, an intentionally small studio focused on principled design and meaningful collaboration.

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