Judges

Ron Costley - Designer, Faber & Faber
Ron Costley studied painting, drawing and lithography before joining the Shenval Press where he was responsible for the design, typography and production of a wide range of printed matter including exhibition catalogues and publicity material for the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Tate Gallery and commercial galleries.
In 1977 he moved from printing to publishing and worked successively at the Scolar Press, Chatto & Windus and Faber and Faber where he continues to design books and recently curated an exhibition of 75 years of Faber design.

He has lectured on his work as a book designer and is a member of the advisory board of the MA in publishing at the City University, London. He has recently contributed to the British Library’s National Sound Archive Book Trade Lives oral history project.

Paul Gumn - BAS Printers
Paul Gumn officially joined BAS Printers in 1978, but he had been brought up ‘on the premises’, the company having been founded by his father in 1948.
Paul’s early years with the company were spent dealing with the many London publishing houses, producing their integrated illustrated books. During the late 80’s he was responsible for the company changing its main market from high quality book production, to producing Fine Art Catalogues for both Public Museums and Galleries and Art Dealer Galleries.
They have won many awards over the years including Fine Art Printer of the Year on three occasions and Book Printer of the Year. In 2004 they won Best Book Printed in the UK category in the British Book Design and Production Awards.
Paul retires at the end of March, when he will be able to spend more time with his lifelong sporting interest of Small-bore Rifle Shooting, an event that he has competed in at International level.

He is married, with a daughter, two sons and a grandson.

Neil Palfreyman - Thames & Hudson (winner of Book of the Year 2004)
Neil, was a late starter in publishing and first joined Thames & Hudson after graduating as a mature student from the publishing degree course at Napier University in Edinburgh.  After an initial period of two and a half years with Thames & Hudson, he left and worked for various other companies including Dorling Kindersley Mainstream Books, Pavilion Books and prior to re-joining Thames & Hudson six years ago, he was Production Director at Phaidon Press.  In all, he has been working in illustrated books for 16 years.  His main interests are in contemporary art, design and architecture so likes to think Thames & Hudson is a natural home for him.
Thames & Hudson was established 55 years ago by Walter Neurath and is still an independent family-owned company.  They pioneered co-edition printing of fine art books and have grown to be the most important art publisher in the world, with lists covering fine art, contemporary art, applied arts, design, architecture, art theory, archaeological and ancient history.