Koe receives honorable mention for prize on interior design literature

Frank Koe, an instructor in engineering design, has been awarded a Joel Polsky Prize Honorable Mention from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID).

The Joel Polsky Prize is given by the ASID Educational Foundation to recognize outstanding academic contributions to the discipline of interior design through literature, such as published books, or visual communication, such as informational video or CD-ROMs.

Koe received the honorable mention for his book, Fabric for the Designed Interior, which addresses the textile industry and design process, and for its accompanying DVD.

Entries for the prize were required to address the needs of the public, designers and students on such topics as educational research, behavioral science, business practice, design process, theory or other technical subjects. Submissions were judged on innovative subject matter, comprehensive coverage of topic, organization, graphic presentation, bibliography and references.

Koe was nominated for the award by Olga Kontzias, executive editor of Fairchild Books, publisher of Fabric for the Designed Interior.

"I nominate as many of our interior design titles published in the period required and ones that I believe have a chance," said Kontzias.

"Last year I nominated six of our interior titles, and two received honorable mention — Frank's and Diane Bender's Design Portfolios: Moving from Traditional to Digital. Honorable mention is awarded to titles by jurors who want to recognize an outstanding submission, and in 2008 it seems Frank's and Diane's were the only ones honorably mentioned."

In addition to competing with other books from the same publisher for the prize, Koe's book was also up against interior design books submitted by other publishers, including Wiley, Prentice-Hall and others.

"The prize helps to validate all the work that went into writing the text and producing the two-hour DVD," said Koe.  "I was very surprised and pleased to receive the award."