Fellow Typophile, regular Fonts In Use contributor, blogger for the esteemed competition and all-round nice chap Florian Hardwig pointed out to me that the deadline for this year's Walter Tiemann Prize is almost upon us. This international award honours innovative typographic design ideas in book design. It is aimed at those who consider the book a contemporary work of art. A work in which content-based concepts are realised with the help of outstanding graphic design, in which the chosen means are employed in appropriate and meaningful ways, and in which – despite the book's long tradition – something surprising is visualised through the design.

The Walter Tiemann Prize was first presented in 1992 and has since been awarded every other year. The call for entries is primarily concerned with a typography that enforces, comments and organizes the content, and yet explores new paths. Books in limited editions are admissible, whereas unique items and handwritten works are excluded. The contest is truly international in scope – so far submissions this year come from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, USA, …

The award is organised by the Society for the Promotion of Printmaking and Book Art Leipzig. An independent jury of five international experts will decide on the award winners: a main award that comes with €5000 prize money, and an encouragement award worth €1500. The Walter Tiemann Prize is funded exclusively through donations. The society aims to acquire all prize-winning books for its library, which is available for exhibitions as well as for individual study.

The deadline for entries is November 30, 2013. To submit your work, please fill in the online form and send in the book(s). Submitted books will be returned after the competition. The award ceremony will take place on March 13, 2014.