Four-season County book earns silver at publisher awards

Prince Edward: A Four Season County, featuring the work of four County photographers, has earned a silver medal at the 2021 North American Independent Publisher Awards.

Photographers Jason Pettit, Phil Norton, Rob Garden and Peggy deWitt

County photographers Peggy deWitt, Robbie Garden, Phil Norton and Jason Pettit collectively contributed more than 90 images telling a County story over four seasons.

Winning in the Canada East – Best Regional Non-Fiction category, the book was produced by Sault Ste. Marie publisher Tagona Press. Tagona co-founder Bryan Davies describes the award as, “gratifying in every way.

The Independent Publisher Book Awards celebrates 25 years as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry. This year’s medalists represent 46 U.S. states and seven Canadian provinces (35 medalists), with winners also coming from U.K. and Australia (nine medalists each), plus New Zealand, Ireland, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Jamaica and Malawi.

“Book publishing is a challenging enterprise at any time, and the COVID-19 pandemic added some new hurdles. Our book is a testament to a wonderful collaborative effort – four talented Prince Edward County photographers working beautifully in synch with our equally fine Sault creative and production team. I am honoured to be part of it.”

In July 2020, Davies imagined a work that would take readers through beautiful, historic Prince Edward County while revealing its remarkable four season appeal. Gary & Joanie McGuffin provided high level photo editing and creative leadership while writer Helen Dow and Davies crafted the text.

‘Prince Edward’ is the first of five books Tagona Press plans to publish in its 2021 Four Season Ontario series – Hastings County, Durham Region, and two Algoma District books are to be released this summer and fall.