Multnomah Books, InterVarsity Press, Baker Publishing Group and Thomas Nelson Publishers were the big winners of the first ECPA/Dickinson Press Book Cover Award, presented last night during the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's (ECPA) Publishing University (Pub U) event in Lombard, Ill.

The new annual award recognizing the best book cover designs in Christian publishing drew more than 55 submissions from 19 member publishers, with the entries narrowed down to 15 nominees and finally four winners.

Multnomah's The Wounded Warrior by Steve Stephens and designed by The DesignWorks Group won the Best Cover From a Small Publisher category, which featured publishers with one to 100 titles annually.

InterVarsity's Gracism by David A. Anderson and designed by Cindy Kiple received the Best Cover From a Mid-level Publisher award, a category that qualified publishers with 101 to 250 titles in a year.

Revell/Baker's Technical Virgin by Hayley DiMarco and designed by Christopher Tobias won the Best Cover From a Large Publisher category, which included publishers with more than 251 titles annually.

Designed by Scott Lee, Nelson's The Voice of Acts: The Dust Off Their Feet by Brian McClaren and Chris Seay was the recipient of the Best Bible Cover award, which featured Bible publishers.

The Dec. 10 issue of Christian Retailing will feature an in-depth article on book cover trends in the Christian publishing industry.