Winterhouse and AIGA Team Up To Present First-Ever Design Writing Award

April 14, 2006: The first Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing and Criticism, two awards given to young design writers, have been announced as a joint venture between the Winterhouse Institute and AIGA. Submissions will be accepted until June 30, 2006, and the awards will be presented at the Design Legends Gala on October 25, 2006, in New York City.

The first Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing and Criticism, two awards given to young design writers, have been announced as a joint venture between the Winterhouse Institute and AIGA. Submissions will be accepted until June 30, 2006, and the awards will be presented at the Design Legends Gala on October 25, 2006, in New York City.

The awards seek to increase the appreciation of design throughout the design community, and for the greater public, by recognizing excellent writing about design, and by discovering new voices in design criticism and commentary.

Winterhouse principals William Drenttel and Jessica Helfand have long supported design writing through their own pursuits: they founded the design blog Design Observer, have written for dozens of publications, and publish books with their own writing under their Winterhouse imprint. They created the award as part of an AIGA initiative to stimulate awareness and demonstrate the value of design.

“Design can only evolve as a profession with critical writing, intelligent journalism, and inspired essays,” said Winterhouse principal William Drenttel. “Winterhouse has long championed the role of the designer in journalism, as well as writers who focus on design. This program is a way to help develop a new generation of writers who will provide news and perspective in the future.”

Two awards will be presented: The first, in the amount of $5,000, will be awarded to a writer under the age of 40 for a body of work. The second, in the amount of $1,000, will be given to a student, either undergraduate or graduate, for a single piece of writing.

Writing on all types of design topics will be considered, including, but not limited to, architectural, environmental, fashion, graphic, industrial, information, interactive, product and strategic. Additionally, many formats of writing will be considered, including essays and reviews, works of journalism and profiles, history and theory, fiction and nonfiction, poems, plays and screenplays, experimental works and proposals for design projects. Submissions must be formatted in 10-point Courier font. No visuals may be included so that all work can be judged equally and fairly on the basis of the content.

“We wanted to find a way to cast this as wide open as possible and find people who use language in a way that produces something unusual,” says Jessica Helfand, who is chair of the awards jury. “Can we see writing in the absence of visual work that's so exciting, so demonstrative, so inventive in its ability to corral a design idea that it advances the profession?”

The submissions will be judged by four jurors renowned for their own exceptional writing about design and visual culture:

Jessica Helfand, chair Graphic designer and educator; founding editor, Design Observer

Kurt Andersen Host, PRI’s “Studio 360”

Julie Lasky
Editor-in-chief, I.D. Magazine

Meghan O’Rourke
Culture editor, Slate; poetry editor, The Paris Review

Through the exceptional generosity of 43 benefactors, including many schools and universities, organizations, design firms and individuals, the awards are financially supported for the next five years.

More information is available here, as well as a promotional poster that can be downloaded.

Please contact Alissa Walker, AIGA storyteller, for interviews and additional details.

AIGA, the professional association for design, is committed to furthering excellence in design as a broadly defined discipline, strategic tool for business and cultural force. AIGA is the place design professionals turn to first to exchange ideas and information, participate in critical analysis and research and advance education and ethical practice.