Cast Your Vote for the Best Book Cover of the Year

We selected 32 of the best designs of the year, but you're crowning the ultimate winner

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The holidays just got a whole lot more exciting—our fifth annual Book Cover Tournament kicks off on Monday! For an entire year, we’ve judged thousands and thousands of book covers, and the 32 designs below represent the very best. But in the end, there can only be one winner.

Now, it’s your turn to take the reins! Head over to our Twitter and Instagram Stories next week to cast your votes in the most aesthetic showdown of the year. Want to up the fun? Download the full bracket, predict your winners, and follow the drama as it unfolds.

Here’s how it works: 32 books, 16 pairs will face off in round one. Voting begins Monday for round one, Tuesday for round two, quarterfinals on Wednesday, semifinals on Thursday, and the grand finale on Friday.

Click to enlarge

Here are the best book covers of 2024:

Left: Design by Alicia Tatone, art by Shannon Cartier Lucy
Right: Design by Jaya Nicely, art by Zack Rosebrugh
Worry by Alexandra Tanner vs. But the Girl by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu

Left: Design by Chang Jae Lee, art by Choi Dahye
Right: Unknown
Table For One by Yun Ko-Eun, translated by Lizzie Buehler vs. House Is an Enigma by Emma Bolden

Left: Design by Christina Vang, photograph by Grace Sydney Pham
Right: Design by Philip Pascuzzo
Return of the Chinese Femme by Dorothy Chan vs. Tehrangeles by Porochista Khakpour

Left: Design and lettering by Nicolette Ceeback, art by Fabian Lavater
Right: Design by Julianna Lee
The Wedding People by Alison Espach vs. The Manicurist’s Daughter by Susan Lieu 

Right: Design by Lynn Buckley, art by Boucher
Left: Design by Kaitlin Kall
I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol vs. Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary

Left: Design by Alban Fische, art by Alexandra Gallagher
Right: Design by Dinah Fried, artwork by Andrea Kowch
Inconsolable Objects by Nancy Miller Gomez vs. omnious music intensifying by Alexandra Teague

Left: Design by Sarahmay Wilkinson, art direction by Jaya Miceli
Right: Design by Sarahmay Wilkinson, art by Day Brierre
I Love Hearing Your Dreams by Matthew Zapruder vs. Ghostroots by Pemi Aguda

Left: Design by Milan Bozic
Right: Design by Arsh Raziuddinm, fabric pattern and photo by Zara Chowdhary
I’m a Fool to Want You by Camila Sosa Villada, translated by Kit Maude vs. The Lucky Ones by Zara Chowdhary

Left: Design by Sophie Harris
Right: Design by Luísa Dias
Crunch: An Ode to Crisps by Natalie Whittle vs. The Nightmare Box by Cynthia Gómez

Left: Design by Oliver Munday
Right: Design by Lynn Buckley, art by Damilola Opedun
The Life of Tu Fu by Eliot Weinberger vs. Ours by Phillip B. Williams

Left: Design by Zoe Norvell
Right: Design by unknown
Tartarus by Ty Chapman vs. A Window That Can Neither Open Nor Close by Lauren Russell

Left: Design by Emma Ewbank
Right: Design by Beth Steidle
Above Us The Sea by Ania Card vs. Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia

Left: Design by Jason Arias
Right: Design by Zak Tebbal
Love Novel by Ivana Sajko, translated by Mima Simic vs. The Black Utopians by Aaron Robertson

Left: Design by Zoe Norvell, art by Gérard Schlosser
Right: Design by Adriana Tonello, photograph by Suzanne Saroff
Misrecognition by Madison Newbound vs. Mouth by Puloma Ghosh

Left: Design by Richard Bravery, art by Kalejaye O. Tosin
Right: Design by Stephen Parker, art by Shannon Cartier Lucy
Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh vs. Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin

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