Three Kregel Titles Named 2024 Top Shelf Book Cover Award Winners

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Three Kregel titles were presented the Top Shelf Book Cover Award during the ECPA's annual PubU event. The winners were announced November 13 and included winners from four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Bibles, and Children's.

Darkness Calls the Tiger by Janyre Tromp won in the Fiction category. A World War II novel set in Burma follows the daughter of a widowed missionary as war descends on the Kachin mountains. The cover was designed by Jeff Miller from Faceout Studio and features a tiger carefully entwined in the letters of the title against a foreboding backdrop. The Top Shelf Award judge said, "The interaction between image and type on this cover is so thoughtful and nuanced!"

Love Overboard by Shannon Sue Dunlap won in the Fiction category. A snort-laughing, cruise ship romance that takes readers into topsy-turvy waves with a group of four quirky retirees on a never-ending round of cruises. The cover was designed by Patti Brinks, a freelancer in West Michigan, and features a beach-read style with angled text against alternating waves and a cruise ship in the background. The Top Shelf Award judge said, "Clean and dynamic, the diagonal type interacting with the descending hearts creates lots of visual movement and is a fresh take on the genre."

This Ain't No Promised Land by Tina Shelton won in the Fiction category. In 1980s South Side Chicago, teen sisters find community after their mother abandons them to flee her past. The cover was designed by Elisha Zepeda from Faceout Studio and features a bright color scheme with girls jumping rope in the foreground with a distant city glowing behind. The Top Shelf Book Award judge said, "The cropping and placement of the image of the girls doing double Dutch, balanced perfectly with the hand-lettering, really catches the eye."

A complete list of winners can be found on the Top Shelf Book Cover Award web page.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) created the ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Awards to promote and recognize outstanding Bible and book cover design in the Christian publishing industry. Top designers in the industry judge covers for their merits in appropriateness for the market, level of conceptual thinking, and quality of execution. The ECPA is now celebrating ten years of the Top Shelf Awards.

Kregel Publications is an evangelical Christian publisher that aims to develop and distribute—with integrity and excellence—trusted, biblically based resources that lead individuals to know and serve Jesus Christ.