My Top 5 Favorite Quizbook Covers

 Many things mark the beginning of a new quizzing year, from the preliminary schedule (which not only has the dates and times of the quizmeets, but also the quizzing material breakdown and the possible location) to the coaches & staff meeting. Another thing that marks the start of the quizzing year is seeing and receiving the new quizbook. What makes seeing and receiving the quizbook peculiarly exciting is seeing the new quizbook cover. Ultimately, the quizbook cover does not really impact quizzing itself. After all, most Bible simply have a black cover with HOLY BIBLE in gold lettering. Some quizbook covers, however, go above and beyond in their design, somehow aligning with the quizzing material in te quizbook, and that deserves recognition. In honor of my 20th year involved in Bible quizzing (a little overdue, but before my 21st year in Bible quizzing begins), here are my top 5 favorite quizbook covers over the past 20 years, ranked from 5th favorite to most favorite.

Honorable Mention: 2002 - Joshua, Ruth, Esther, Daniel Jonah

Ok, this honorable mention technically makes this list a top 6, but this honorable mention deserves the mention because, if not for a recent quizbook cover, this cover would have made the top 5 list. The honorable mentions goes to the 2002 quizbook with Joshua, Ruth, Esther, Daniel and Jonah. At first, it seems like nothing fancy with its red text on purple background. Look closely, however, and the alignment of the text has more creativity behind it than previously thought. Traditionally, not only will the quizbook have on it the name of Bible books quizzed on, but it will also have the names of the quizzing conferences, as well as "Quizzing [year]." The 2002 quizbook found a creative way to do this. In a lighter purple text, the names of the quizzing conferences, as well as "Quizzing 2002," fall on each side of the Bible book names. Ruth falls between West and Liberty, Esther falls between Wayne and County, Daniel falls between NW and Ohio, and Jonah falls between Quizzing and 2002. Put it all together, and the Bible book names neatly descend in a diagonal direction, almost naturally, even without the names of the conferences and Quizzing 2002. While nothing creative with images or pictures, the creative alignment of the text alone deserves an honorable mention.

5th favorite: 2009 - Genesis

From the quizbook of my first year as a quizzer to the quizbook of my last year as a quizzer. The Genesis quizbook in 2009 is the first quizbook to add some sort of imagery on it, besides the book name. The 2009 Genesis quizbook has a simple image on it: a lens flare. This simple imagery of a lens flare makes a small yet nice touch. Since a lens flare comes from light, the lens flare symbolically represents light. It calls back to the creation account in Genesis 1, in which God creates light first on the first day. Since the term genesis means origin, beginning or creation, it all fits together. The book of Genesis contains the beginning of the creation of the world, and the beginning of the creation of the world starts with the creation of light, as represented with the lens flare. If God did not create the light, the lens flare would not exist. The lens flare on 2009 Genesis quizbook gets the quizzer to think about origins and beginning, from the beginning of the creation of the world to the beginning and creation of the nation of Israel, starting with Father Abraham. The 2009 Genesis quizbook at least puts the 2018 Genesis quizbook to shame (although the 2018 on the back cover forming the E in Genesis was a pretty cool idea)

4th favorite: 2020 - Joseph & Esther (Genesis 37,39-50 & Esther 1-10)

While technically not having an image or picture on it necessarily, the 2020 quizbook on the lives of Joseph and Esther, covering Genesis 37,39-50 & Esther 1-10, could still have meaning behind the quizbook cover's pattern. In Genesis 37:4, Jacob gives Joseph a robe of many colors. With the purples, pinks, reds, oranges and yellows on the cover, the cover could easily be a close-up of Joseph's colorful robe. The font of Joseph & Esther somewhat resembles that the font used for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Esther isn't fully left out, either. While the title cover has many colors represented on it, the dominant color seems to be purple, the color worn by royalty in Old Testament times. The dominant purple calls back to the fact Esther becomes queen. While lacking an image or a picture, which pushes it back on the list, the pattern on the quizbook cover almost suffices as an adequate substitute for this lack of image or picture. It definitely puts to shame the 2011 quizbook on the same material, with its white writing on a black and purple background.

3rd favorite: 2010 - 1 & 2 Corinthians

Masthof Press, the printers of the quizbooks, were really on top of their game when it came to quizbook covers in the early half of 2010, as my top 3 favorite quizbook covers all come from the early half of 2010 (perhaps that's why the 2009 quizbook on Genesis ended up in 5th place). My 3rd favorite quizbook cover comes from my first year in quizzing not as a quizzer and my first year as quiz coach. 3rd favorite belongs to the 2010 quizbook on 1 & 2 Corinthians. No, I am not being biased because the quizbook cover is my favorite color (in fact, I prefer darker oranges). This is the first quizbook to have a more concrete picture, more concrete than a lens flare. Big and center on the quizbook's front cover stands a Corinthian pillar. While nothing fancy, the Corinthian pillars make a connection to Corinth, its place of origin, the same Corinth to which Paul wrote 2 epistles. Even the font has a Greek feel to it, further putting in place the Greek mindset. Everything from the text font to the single background picture points back to the quizzing material on 1 & 2 Corinthians.

2nd favorite: 2013 - David (1 Samuel 16-31, 2 Samuel 1-12, 1 Kings 1:28-2)

So much is going on here with the 2013 quizbook cover. The 2013 quizzing material covered the life of David, from humble shepherd to exalted king. Of course, the Bible mainly focuses on the exalted to king because David serves as a predecessor to the ultimate exalted king, Jesus Christ. Likewise, the 2013 quizbook cover focuses on the kingly symbols for David. This quizbook has a picture on it, a crown, the ultimate symbol of a king. Actually, it has 2 crowns on it, for even the name of David wears a crown on the quizbook's cover! The colors of the quizbook also further emphasize the theme of an exalted. This quizbook has a gold background with purple lettering and purple pictures, two colors worn by kings. Originally, Masthof Press planned to inverse the colors, with purple as the background and gold for the lettering and pictures. Ultimately, I'm glad Mashtof Press went with the gold background and purple lettering and images, for the gold looks like legitimate gold, not just simply yellow. With so much happening on this quizbook cover, it deserves the spot as 2nd favorite. It's hard to imagine what could beat it for most favorite.

Most favorite: 2014 - Exodus

On the 2014 Exodus quizbook cover, it seems to have a picture of a bare bush, bare in the sense that the bush only exposes its branches without any leaves. Considering the 2014 quizzing material covers Exodus, the only bush that appears in all the book of Exodus is the burning bush in Exodus 3. Then it all becomes clear. The quizbook cover does not have a bare bush, but rather, it has burning bush. The flames of fire out of the midst of this bush are the red, orange and yellow colors of the quizbook. It almost looks like the quizbook cover is a closeup of the burning bush, so close that it can't be seen outside the burning bush. It's one thing to put a burning bush on the cover of the quizbook; it's another thing to make the whole quizbook cover the burning bush. Even the text fonts contribute to the message and theme of Exodus. The bold and capitalized font face of the title Exodus brings out the importance of the book to the overall Old Testament. The subtitle text, colored in a yellow-orange hue, makes it look like the text is part of the flames of fire out of the midst of the bush, which one would think would make it hard to read, but surprisingly, is not hard to read. The only improvement that possibly could be made would be to make the title Exodus a gray color, symbolically representing the smoke of the burning bush. Ultimately, though this quizbook cover combines the best my 4th favorite quizbook with my 2nd favorite quizbook, thus making it, in my opinion, my favorite quizbook. It definitely puts the 2004 Exodus quizbook cover to shame.