NEW THIS YEAR

The Type-High Award!

Recognition That Stands Taller Than Ever

Every winning entrant stands tall among the world’s best typographic practitioners. But even within this lofty cohort, some works stand above the rest. So this year, TDC is introducing the Type-High award in Gold, Silver, and Bronze. This special award recognizes the best of the best in each discipline.

Entering TDC offers the chance of meaningful recognition that can elevate your career, bolster your business, and win you professional credibility. Enter now to claim your chance at being part of The World’s Best Typography®.

Enter The World’s Best Typography

Welcome to the Type Directors Club’s 72nd Annual Competition. The TDC has been a beacon of typographic achievement for over seven decades, recognizing outstanding work across communication design, type design, and lettering.

Whether you’re an old-school master technician or a cutting-edge street stylist, we want to celebrate and elevate your work.

Last year’s competition entries came from over 60 countries and writing systems, exemplifying the global nature of our discipline. The winning work included emerging voices and renowned leaders, spanning agencies, studios, independent designers, and type foundries.

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Why Enter?

The cumulative expertise of our juries represents something more than algorithm-driven social media likes. A win in the TDC competition amounts to meaningful recognition from a deep community of highly qualified type-brainiacs.

MEET OUR JUDGES

To determine what qualifies as “The World’s Best,” our jury presidents select the judges for each discipline (communication design, type design, and lettering), incorporating input from our community and our dazzling Advisory Board.

Join a prestigious who’s-who of typography’s greatest practitioners.

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What You Win

A TDC win means garnering the esteem of colleagues and peers worldwide. In addition, winners receive:

• A coveted TDC Certificate of Excellence
• A one-year membership to the TDC with all the benefits of membership, including discounts on competition entries.
• Publication of your work in the legendary annual book “The World’s Best Typography” designed and published by Slanted Publishing.
• Your work presented on both the TDC and One Club online archives
• Opportunity to be part of the annual TDC exhibition which travels the globe
• Possibility of being presented through our social media channels and newsletters
• The possibility of winning additional coveted awards and recognitions, like Best of Discipline, Judges’ Choice, or one of our brand new gold/silver/bronze “Type-High” awards. READ MORE ABOUT OUR AWARDS

A TDC win can earn you professional credibility, elevate your career, and bolster your business,

Enter now to claim your chance at being part of The Best Typography in the World.

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The Awards

Competition Outline

DISCIPLINES

Communication Design, Lettering, Type Design

Download TDC72 ENTRY GUIDE PDF
Includes submission requirement, and terms and definitions

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* Estimated application completion time: 10 minutes

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COMMUNICATION DESIGN

The Communication Design discipline is for any creation that uses type, lettering, or written language—be it print design, digital design, immersive experiences, architecture, fashion, film titles, social media campaigns, or otherwise.

Entries can contain any kind of design element, but the dominant element of the design should be typographic.

We Accept Physical Submissions in These Categories

• Packaging Design
• Poster Design
• Publication Design

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LETTERING

Lettering is for work where the letters are either modified or created—this could entail traditional or abstract calligraphy, tattoos, wordmarks and custom logotypes, or typefaces that are just a little too out there to be classic typeface design.

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TYPE DESIGN

The Type Design discipline is for entries showcasing the design of workable font software; this could mean single typefaces, type families, emoji or symbol fonts, or software for generating and creating type.

NOTE: The name of the designer and typeface must not appear in the submission images / PDFs.

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STUDENT WORK

If you are currently enrolled in an undergraduate university program, graduate program, or portfolio program (PhD Candidates are not eligible), please enter YOUNG ONES TDC

If you are part of a non-traditional portfolio program or short-course, please reach out to education@oneclub.org to confirm your eligibility.

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