From the Judges' Report

A clear winner emerged from among our short, yet hefty, stack of college research publications-the one with a rifle on the cover. Boston University School of Public Health chose to feature the gritty, divisive topic of gun control in its 80-page book that highlights the school's focus on real-life public health issues. The edginess continues onto the back cover with a stark, simple photo of a bullet hole and then into the story's opening spread, where the words "Today, this many Americans will die from gunshot wounds" is stacked above symmetrical rows of some 90 bullets.

Throughout the publication, topics such as obesity, caregiver health, hate speech, and drinking/mortality rates use all the right tools to pull readers into the pages: tight, themed stories; good headlines and pull quotes; compelling, high-quality photography; interesting factoids and graphics; slugs; and plenty of white space. Story treatments themselves are a nice mix of narratives, a faculty-written essay, a Q&A, a point/counterpoint, and several full-spread infographics.

With such meaty, relevant content upfront, the book is forgiven for its requisite and lengthy list of faculty publications that consumes the final 30 pages. Although dense, the text in this section is well-styled and easy to read.

Production and print values are high. The book features a heavy, uncoated stock; perfect binding; and solid pre-press and color work. Photos are crisp and vibrant. Unit cost for 10,500 copies is $7, which includes freelance photography and copyediting.

The judges' overall impression of this category? Overall, the pieces submitted seem much too long. (Perhaps not everything needs to be covered?) Boston appears to have been much more selective in its coverage, unafraid to assign different weights to its topics and stories; there's a content hierarchy that make the piece approachable. We also noted a vast difference in cost; whereas one school spent nearly $19 per unit to print a quantity of under 3,400, another school presented a very solid piece for just $1.65.