We have one of the most beautiful books in Slovakia! MUUZU was awarded by an expert jury
The creative yearbook, created by colleagues from the Faculty of Mass Media Communication (FMK) of UCM, was included in the selection of 20 winning books from across the country. Thanks to this, MUUZA 2025 will also travel to a book fair abroad. This is not the first time it has received this award.
On Tuesday, May 5, 2026, a ceremony was held in Bratislava's Martine, during which the competition organizers, together with a professional jury, presented diplomas and prizes to the twenty most beautiful books, which they selected from among 73 entries. It was attended by members of the MUUZA editorial and publishing board, prof. Pravdová, doc. Sedlák, Dr. Čmehýlová-Rašová, Dr. Novanská Škripcová, Dr. Kramara Jonisová, graphic designer Dr. Klementis, and also the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, doc. Čábyová.
"A book is not just an end point; it is a difficult journey that leads from an idea to physical processing - and it is this physical form that is the subject of what we will appreciate today," the opening speech said. The organizing team also mentioned that the visual appearance of a book is made up of the cover, typography, illustrations, and layout, with the judges also taking into account material processing, tactile elements, paper selection, type of binding, and special effects.
The books were evaluated by painters, illustrators and graphic designers
The collection THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKS OF SLOVAKIA 2025 consists of diverse titles, the jurors divided them into six categories: books for children and young people, fiction, books on fine arts and picture publications, scientific and professional literature, bibliophile and author's books, student works.
The chairman of the jury was academic painter Igor Piačka, a visual artist and illustrator. "Despite the dynamically changing world that we have the opportunity to register, book creation still remains one of the fundamental pillars of human civilization," he mentioned. He highlighted the expertise of the jury, whose members are dedicated to book creation from various aspects: "Each one contributed from their own perspective to ensuring that in such a subjective discipline as evaluating the beauty of a book, the opinion was nevertheless objective."
The 11-member expert jury, in addition to the chairman, consisted of:
- Ing. Peter Bubla, president of the Slovak Printing Association,
- Mgr. Jana Hrabovská, art education teacher,
- Ing. Milan Lederleitner, printing expert,
- Mgr. art. Peter Uchnár, illustrator,
- Mgr. art. Miroslav Regitko, illustrator and graphic designer,
- Ing. Monika Soľavová, printing expert,
- Ing. Monika Struhárňanská, PhD., graphic designer,
- Mgr. Martin Vančo, PhD., art historian,
- Mgr. art. Milina Zimková, painter and graphic artist,
- Mgr. et Mgr. Juraj Žembera, PhD., art historian.
Recognition of the creative efforts of our students
The publication has been published annually at the university since 2010. It unites several departments and studios – the Studio of Communication in the Medium of Photography, the Creative-Experimental Photo Studio, the Studio of Commercial Photography, as well as the subjects of journalistic photography, advertising photography and creative writing, participate in its creation. It represents the best works of art by photographers and literary creators, consisting of students of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
“I am pleased that art also has its place in our academic environment, which does not have a primary artistic focus. Teachers of creative subjects lead students not only to aesthetic taste as such or technical skills with a camera, but especially to thinking, taking a position, expressing an opinion through their outputs. They teach them to reflect on the world around them,” says Eva Kramara Jonisová, a member of the publication’s editorial board. He adds that the jury did not focus primarily on the content, but on the graphic design, to which graphic designer Martin Klementis owes his many years of merit.
“Although we are sensitive to current events in the field of cultural policy in Slovakia, we value this award primarily as the result of the work of an independent expert jury, which included experts from the fields of fine arts, illustration and printing. We see it primarily as recognition of the creative efforts of our students,” adds Kramara Jonisová.
Dominika Čmehýlová-Rašová is in charge of the literary part of the yearbook, she is also a teacher of creative writing and selects the best texts. In addition to short stories, fairy tales and poems, she also included calligrams in this year’s edition. She particularly highlights the symbiosis of image and word: “The exceptional graphic element of MUUZA 2025 is the optical texts, which, by connecting the literary and photographic sections, support the symbiosis of word and image in the yearbook.”
“The photographic part of the yearbook also shows how diverse and layered contemporary young photography is. Each studio and photo subject brings its own style, different approaches and diametrically different types of outputs, from conceptual projects to documentary series to experimental visual forms. It is this diversity that offers a comprehensive view of the breadth of students’ thinking and the possibilities with which they can formulate their own statements through photography,” adds Lucia Novanská Škripcová, who heads the Creative-Experimental Photography Studio.
MUUZA in the company of exceptionally high-quality books
MUUZA 2025 was awarded in the category of books on fine arts and visual publications; the yearbook also received this award in 2012. Thanks to this, it will also go to the National Book Archive in Martin, the International Book Fair in Frankfurt and the Most Beautiful Books in the World 2025 competition in Leipzig.
We found ourselves in a collection of books with exceptionally high-quality graphic design, such as a book of poems by Milan Rúfus, illustrated by children from centers for children and families, a richly illustrated book by Maša Haľamová, a poetry collection by Martin Vladik with interesting perforated pages, for which laser cutting was used, or a publication mapping the activities of the ÚĽUV in the years 1945–1989.
The organizers of the competition are BIBIANA, the international art house for children, the Slovak National Library and the Slovak Printing Association. The ceremony was followed by the opening of the exhibition The Most Beautiful Books of Slovakia 2025 in the premises of the Dušan Roll Gallery in BIBIANA. The exhibition will run until June 28, 2026.
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