It's award season all right. After the announcement of the SND30 winners now it's the turn of TDC 55 and TDC2 2009. Here is the press release – we'll post a follow-up with a closer look at the winners.

TDC55

The fifty-fifth annual international competition, TDC55 this past January was slightly different than in the past. We had an early-bird deadline which many entrants responded to. In a year where many are struggling with finances, the entries were down slightly by 8%.

There was a total of 1733 entries from 33 countries: of the total, 957 (55%) from the U.S. and 776 (45%) from other countries. Total work selected included 215 from 20 countries. Of the total number 97 (45%) from the U.S. and 118 (55%) from other countries. The countries include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.

Matteo Bologna, Mucca Design, Inc. chaired the TDC55 competition. Mr. Bologna stated that

the quality of the submission was incredible and it was heartbreaking seeing some of those entries being discarded by the judges who had to pick the best amongst the best.

The jury was comprised of

Laurie DeMartino | Laurie DeMartino Design Co., Minneapolis, MNRoberto de Vicq de Cumptich | deVicq design, New YorkChris Dixon | New York Magazine, New YorkTina Roth Eisenberg | swissmiss studio, New YorkJeffrey Fisher | Paris, FranceMatthew Richmond | The Chopping Block, New YorkAlex Trochut | Barcelona, Spain

Werner Design Werks, Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the designer of the TDC55 Call for Entries and is currently designing Typography 30 which will be available early December and published by Collins Design, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

TDC2 2009

There was no change in the typeface design competition this year. We received the same number of entries. Of the 163 typefaces entered from 26 countries, 18 were selected. The winning typefaces came from nine countries. 78 % was outside the U.S. The winning typefaces are

Fiona Ross, the Typographic Consultant in non-Latin scripts, Lecturer at University of Reading (p/t), and Associate Designer to Tiro Typeworks, chaired TDC2 2009.

I was pleased with the number of entries in what could have been a lean year and by the quality of the work entered. My task was made particularly enjoyable by the first-class team of judges, who each had strong opinions about the material they were judging but who were all in accord with the results.

The jury included

Ken Barber | House IndustriesJonathan Hoefler | Hoefler & Frere-JonesRichard Kegler | P22 Type FoundryGabriel Martinez Meave | Kimera Type Foundry

The results of both competitions are posted on the TDC web site.

The Type Directors Club is a non profit professional organization, celebrating over sixty years in the industry. TDC is dedicated to educating its international membership and graphic arts community about type, type design and its myriad of uses in the field of communications.