In 2013, Joan K. Davidson, president of Furthermore, established the Alice award to honor her mother, Alice Manheim Kaplan. Alice loved and collected the illustrated book as a work of art in itself and an essential document of a civilized society.
The $25,000 Alice award was given annually until 2023 to a richly illustrated book that made a valuable contribution to its field and demonstrated high standards of production. Books selected by the award jury for the Alice short list each received $5,000.
The award was intended to buttress the kind of slow reading movement that recognizes and cherishes the lasting values of the well-made illustrated book, and the special sense of intimacy it affords. Fields considered included the fine arts and the natural and built environments and related public issues.