Current Events & Trends | May 26, 2021 | Rebecca Rego Barry

The 2021 Morgan Book Project Winners

Courtesy of the Morgan Library & Museum

The Morgan Book Project’s 2021 winners include (left) Preciousness Mudeke’s “Tulip and the Missing Manuscript;” (middle) Timur Ziyamov’s “The Continental Army;” and (right) Maya George’s “The Unicorn Who Lost Her Horn.”

Each year the Morgan Library & Museum rewards New York City schoolchildren for making handmade books. The Morgan Book Project invites students in grades 3-12 to learn about historic bookmaking tools and materials and then to produce their own manuscript or artist’s book (see our winter 2015 issue for more on this amazing program). This year, 450 students from ten schools in all five boroughs participated virtually.

Courtesy of the Morgan Library & Museum

Aleksandr Repin’s “Our Life.”

Twelve manuscripts were cited for awards: Aleksandr Repin’s “Our Life”; Timur Ziyamov’s “The Continental Army”; Rohi Hubert’s “The Dimension”; Rachel Adler’s “Hung”; Eloise Kitko’s “Lupino and the Waterfall”; Aneesh Prasad’s “The Makow”; Cynthia Zheng’s “My Desire for Cheese”; Ivy Lam’s “Never Ending Cycle”; Nicholas Fontanez’s “Safe on the A Train”; Cecilia Unite-Lawrence’s “The Story of Tinete”; Leilani Gatdula’s “The Tiny Waterbender”; Preciousness Mudeke’s “Tulip and the Missing Manuscript”; and Maya George’s “The Unicorn Who Lost Her Horn.”

Aleksandr Repin’s “Our Life” was additionally honored as the Director’s Choice. Repin, a high school senior, wrote and illustrated a book about how life has changed because of Covid-19.

An exhibition on view at the Morgan through August 15 showcases forty students' books.