diff --git a/data/templates b/data/templates
index 7ff2baf592ee..c76c6c522491 160000
--- a/data/templates
+++ b/data/templates
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 7ff2baf592ee4627da0ad1e5cec60e6be3de5785
+Subproject commit c76c6c52249118e49c5dd1b99fe916724350a590
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/EPUB.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/EPUB.hs
index 456158116795..2291c71842a6 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/EPUB.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/EPUB.hs
@@ -358,8 +358,9 @@ writeEPUB opts doc@(Pandoc meta _) = do
                      Nothing   -> return ([],[])
                      Just img  -> do
                        let coverImage = "media/" ++ takeFileName img
-                       let cpContent = renderHtml $ writeHtml opts'
-                               (Pandoc meta [RawBlock (Format "html") $ "<div id=\"cover-image\">\n<img src=\"" ++ coverImage ++ "\" alt=\"cover image\" />\n</div>"])
+                       let cpContent = renderHtml $ writeHtml
+                            opts'{ writerVariables = ("coverpage","true"):vars }
+                            (Pandoc meta [RawBlock (Format "html") $ "<div id=\"cover-image\">\n<img src=\"" ++ coverImage ++ "\" alt=\"cover image\" />\n</div>"])
                        imgContent <- B.readFile img
                        return ( [mkEntry "cover.xhtml" cpContent]
                               , [mkEntry coverImage imgContent] )