A travel book written in English and Vietnamese has just become the first to win an American design prize.

“Saigon Zoom In” was named the winner of the book design category of the 2014 American Graphic Design Awards on Monday.

The book was created by Nguyen Tri Phuong Dong, an expat Vietnamese artist, and his young colleagues at Dai Viet Hoan Cau Co., a local company based in Ho Chi Minh City.

It is the first installment of the 11-part series “Vietnam Visual Travel Guide,” a travel guide showcasing scenic destinations and cultural experiences in major Vietnamese cities and provinces.

Written in Vietnamese and English, the book is highly acclaimed for its outstanding, professional design with vivid paintings, maps and diagrams, as well as the bountiful information on where to go and what to do in Ho Chi Minh City.

Designed as a bookazine – a publication that combines elements of books and magazines – “Saigon Zoom In” is now available in print and an electronic format.

The publisher, Dai Viet Hoan Cau, is preparing to launch the third revised edition of the book.

Its representative said in June this year the books in the series will be written in different languages to cater to specific groups of tourists who frequent different areas of Vietnam.

The section about Nha Trang City in Khanh Hoa Province, located in the central region, will be written in Russian while that about the Hoi An old town in Quang Nam Province will be in Japanese.

Dai Viet Hoan Cau has sold the book on amazon.com for US$10 since July this year.

The American Graphic Design Awards have been given away for over five decades by the Graphic Design USA, a news magazine for graphic designers and other creative professionals, according to its website.

The awards honor outstanding new works of all kinds: print, packaging, point-of-purchase, Internet, interactive, and motion graphics.

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