Awards committee

Selection criteria and process for the AIGA Medal

The 2009 AIGA Awards committee is now accepting recommendations for the AIGA Medal. Recommendations should be sent to awards [at] aiga [dot] org and must include the nominee’s name along with a short paragraph about why he or she should be considered. The committee will accept recommendations until November 5, 2008.

The 2008 committee is chaired by Noreen Morioka (AdamsMorioka, Los Angeles) and also includes:

• Denise Gonzales Crisp, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
• Deanna Kuhlmann-Leavitt, Kuhlmann Leavitt, Inc., St. Louis
• Ellen Lupton, Design/Writing/Research, Baltimore
• Jill Taffet, Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah
• Lucille Tenazas, Tenazas Design, New York

The AIGA Medal is awarded to individuals in recognition of their distinguished achievements, services or other contributions to the field of design. The contribution may be in the practice of design, teaching, writing or leadership of the profession.

Medals will be awarded to individuals who have set standards of excellence over a lifetime of work or have made individual contributions to innovation within the practice of design. Individuals who are honored may work in any country, but the contribution for which they are honored should have had a significant impact on the practice of design in the United States. The awards may honor designers posthumously.

The AIGA board of directors has issued the following standing instructions to the committee:

• More than one medal may be given each year, particularly for honorees who are judged by the different criteria of lifetime achievement versus innovation. Recommendation by the committee for the awarding of several medals should not substitute for gaining the committee’s solid consensus around a single honoree. The awarding of several medals should not substitute for decisive selection of honorees based on immutable contributions. Exceptional circumstances, such as the recognition of a number of designers for lifetime achievement from an older generation, may warrant multiple awards. The board has asked the executive director to participate in the committee deliberations to provide guidance on the criteria for multiple awards.
• The AIGA Medal is the most distinguished award given to graphic designers. It is expected that it will be given to an individual who has made his or her contribution to graphic design or visual communication as the profession is defined by the majority of AIGA members. Although product designers, photographers, architects and illustrators may make a contribution to graphic design through work in their own fields, each of these professions have other prestigious awards available to them for their professional achievements.
• The event used to award the medal will seek to increase public awareness and understanding of the role of the designer, the process of design, the value of design and the achievement of the honored professional.
• The Medalists’ work will be published with a biographical essay and online gallery of images. If funding or sponsorship is available, a small show of the recipients’ work will be mounted in the gallery.

AIGA believes the true potential of this marvelous profession will be not be achieved until we can celebrate that excellence and diversity have been joined. Every effort should be made by the committee to identify designers who have achieved the highest standard of excellence and have emerged from diverse backgrounds.

The board may augment the selections of the committee with additional honorees.