The annual award recognizes outstanding book cover design in Christian publishing. Winners in each of the four categories--Bibles, Small-Sized Publisher, Mid-Sized Publisher and Large Publisher--will be announced Nov. 20 during an online design forum hosted by Rick Hamm, director of the RISC consumer research group that oversees the annual competition.

The finalists in the Bibles category are the Outreach Bible (Blossom design) and the ESV Study Bible (English Standard Version, both Crossway) and the Holman CSB Ultrathin Bible in Varsity Colors (Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman Bibles/B&H Publishing Group).

In the Small-Sized Publisher category, the finalists are Psalms: Songs Along the Way by Kathleen Buswell Nielson (P&R Publishing); Saying Yes: Accepting God's Amazing Invitation to Artists and the Church by Cindy West (David C. Cook); and Your Intercultural Marriage by Marla Alupoaicei (Moody Publishers).

Manners Made Easy for the Family by June Hines Moore (B&H Publishing Group); Pastorpreneur: Outreach Beyond Business as Usual by John Jackson (Abingdon Press); and Taking a Stand for the Bible by John Ankerberg and Dillon Burroughs (Harvest House Publishers) are the finalists in the Mid-Sized Publisher category.

The finalists in the Large Publisher category are Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less by Dave Browning and The Princess and the Three Knights by Karen Kingsbury (both Zondervan) and Traveling Light, Premier Library Edition by Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson).

A record number of 94 entries--up from 63 covers turned in last year--were submitted by 14 member publishers, ECPA officials said. A team of design and marketing experts evaluated the entries based on how the design itself matches the characteristics of the book's target audience. Design components such as composition, images, font treatment, color palette and title were also considered.

Click here for more information on the 2009 ECPA/dp Book Cover Award and the complimentary online design forum.