Eligibility & Rules

Competition Overview

The Type Directors Club annual global competition recognizes typographic excellence and innovation, while maintaining its ongoing commitment to the art and craft of typography and design.

TDC accepts entries in the following disciplines: Communication Design, Lettering, and Type Design

Deadlines

• Early Bird: November 14, 2025 (Save up to 50%)
• Regular: January 23, 2026
• Final: February 27, 2026

Winners will be notified April 2026.

Submission Requirements

• Entries must have been produced or published during 2025. Designs published before January 1, 2025 are not eligible.
• Submissions can be from anyone associated with the entry.
• Due to U.S. Government Regulations & Restrictions, we are unable to accept entries from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria.

Please Note: All entries must be submitted via the online platform. We will ONLY be accepting physical entries for selected categories in the Communication Design discipline (Posters, Packaging, Publication Design).

Who Can Enter

• Professional designers (agencies, studios, in-house teams)
• Freelance designers and creatives
• Faculty members and design educators
• Design firms and corporations
• Independent type designers and letterers
• Anyone involved in a project’s design, production, or marketing

Note: Students must enter the Young Ones TDC competition. Recent graduates (after March 13, 2025) should enter YOUNG ONES TDC

Eligible Work: All submitted work must have been produced or published between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025

Required Media

All entries are required to submit Judging Media and Promotional Images:

• Judging Media: The primary material and content that the jury will review and score.
• Promotional Images: These images will be used for reference or promotional purposes only and will not be judged.

Entries are to be submitted as images, videos, and/or pdfs. Please ensure high enough resolution to judge your work appropriately.

To ensure anonymous and fair judgement of entries, the names of the typeface, designer, client, manufacturer or distributor must not appear anywhere on the submission media files.

Only winners will be notified in April 2026 by email.

Winners have the option to be included in the TDC Traveling Exhibition. These shows travel throughout the world. After the judging is completed, winner entrants will be invited to participate submitting printed materials (or video files for motion pieces). Credits of individuals and firms that have contributed to each entry will be included in the exhibitions.

Physical Entry Submissions

Physical entries will ONLY be accepted for selected categories in the Communication Design discipline (Posters, Packaging, and Publications)

See Phyiscal Entry Requirements

Type Design Submissions

Any new typeface designs produced or published between January 1 and December 31, 2025 are eligible. Typeface designs may be submitted by anyone involved in their design, production, or marketing.

THE NAME OF THE DESIGNER AND THE NAME OF THE TYPEFACE MUST NOT APPEAR IN THE SUBMISSION IMAGES / PDF.

Revisions or expansions of previously published digital typefaces are not eligible as long as they are confined to the same script/writing system. For instance, upgraded typefaces with expanded character sets, additional typographic features, a larger range of styles, or extended language support within the same script(s) are excluded from competition.

As an exception, authorized versions that add support for scripts other than those covered by the original release are eligible (for instance, a Thai or Cyrillic version of an existing Latin typeface).

Terms & Conditions

By submitting work into the competition, all entrants agree to the following:

In the event of any dispute regarding the eligibility of the entry’s qualifications, the Discipline President’s decision is final.

1. Entry is declared to be a 2025 production
2. I, the entrant, hereby grant the TDC permission to show the work(s) in exhibitions, on the TDC and One Club website archives, and to publish it/them in any other publications the TDC deems appropriate.
3. I, the entrant, also allow the TDC to use images of work(s) in all forms of publicity for the competition and exhibitions.
4. I, the entrant, hereby affirm that the materials I, the entrant, submit to the competition(s) and their publications will not infringe upon any personal, property or intellectual rights (i.e., copyright, trademark, and patent) of others and that I, the entrant, have full power to enter into this agreement and that all information is accurate and hold the TDC harmless from any action resulting from this entry material and information.

Contact Information

• TDC72 competition: competition@tdc.org
• Student competition: education@oneclub.org
• Website: tdc.org

The Type Directors Club continues its commitment to recognizing the world's best typography while expanding global accessibility and ensuring appropriate cultural expertise in judging international and multilingual entries.