The Gerrit Noordzij Prize is given to
type designers and
typographers for extraordinary contributions to the fields of type design, typography and type education. The prize, initiated by Anno Fekkes during the 1996 ATypI conference in The Hague, is awarded every three years by the
Royal Academy of Art
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...
together with the
Museum Meermanno, under the auspices of the Dr. P.A. Tiele Trust. The prize is named after
Gerrit Noordzij, who was a professor of typeface design at the Royal Academy of Art (a course that was founded by him). For the continuity of the prize, the Gerrit Noordzij Fund was created.
The award
By tradition, the award itself is designed by the previous winner. In addition to this, each time the prize is awarded, an exhibition about the work of the previous winner is organized, accompanied by a publication.
Through the years, the jury has consisted of:
* Ada Lopes Cardozo (head of the
graphic design department at the Royal Academy of Arts).
*
Erik Spiekermann
Erik Spiekermann (born 30 May 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony) is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design.
Biography
Spiekermann studied art hi ...
(type designer, graphic designer and co-director of
FSI FontShop International)
*
Fred Smeijers
Fred Smeijers (Eindhoven, 1961) is a Dutch type designer, researcher and writer, educated at the ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem in the early 1980s.
Smeijers is the creative director and co-founder of the typeface design and publishi ...
(type designer and teacher of type design)
*
Gerard Unger (professor of typography at the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of L ...
Department of Arts)
*
Gerrit Noordzij (type designer and teacher of type design)
* Jack Verduyn Lunel (director of the Royal Academy of Arts)
* Leo Voogt (director of Museum Meermanno)
*
Petr van Blokland (type designer and teacher at the Royal Academy of Arts)
Laureates
* 1996:
Gerrit Noordzij (Netherlands)
* 2001:
Fred Smeijers
Fred Smeijers (Eindhoven, 1961) is a Dutch type designer, researcher and writer, educated at the ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem in the early 1980s.
Smeijers is the creative director and co-founder of the typeface design and publishi ...
(Netherlands)
* 2003:
Erik Spiekermann
Erik Spiekermann (born 30 May 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony) is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design.
Biography
Spiekermann studied art hi ...
(Germany)
* 2006:
Tobias Frere-Jones
Tobias Frere-Jones (born Tobias Edgar Mallory Jones; August 28, 1970) is an American type designer who works in New York City. He operates the company Frere-Jones Type and teaches typeface design at the Yale School of Art MFA program.
Among his t ...
(United States)
* 2009:
Wim Crouwel
Willem Hendrik "Wim" Crouwel (; 21 November 1928 – 19 September 2019) was a Dutch graphic designer, type designer, and typographer.
Early life and education
Between 1947 and 1949, he studied Fine Arts at Academie Minerva in Groningen, the ...
(Netherlands)
* 2012:
Karel Martens (Netherlands)
* 2015:
Cyrus Highsmith Cyrus Highsmith (born 1973) is an American typeface designer, illustrator, and author.
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997, he worked at Font Bureau in Boston as Senior Type Designer until founding his own type foundry, ...
(United States)
Publications
Different books have been published about, in honor of, or presented at the exhibitions:
* Ben Bos, Tony Brook, Tobias Frere-Jones, Karel Martens, David Quay: ''Wim Crouwel - Gerrit Noordzij Prize'', The Hague (2012).
* Dawn Barrett, David Berlow, Matthew Carter (et al.): ''Tobias Frere-Jones Gerrit Noordzij Prize Exhibition'', Amsterdam (2009).
* FontShop Benelux (ed.): ''e - Erik Spiekermann'', The Hague/De Pinte (2006).
* Fred Smeijers (ed. by Robin Kinross): ''Type now: a manifesto, plus work so far'', London (2003). (Published in honor of the exhibition ''Fred Smeijers: work so far'').
* Mathieu Lommen, Anno Fekkes, Jan Willem Stas (et al.): ''Het primaat van de pen: een workshop letterontwerpen met Gerrit Noordzij'', The Hague (2001).
References
* Dawn Barrett, David Berlow, Matthew Carter (et al.): ''Tobias Frere-Jones Gerrit Noordzij Prize Exhibition'', Amsterdam (2009).
* Tobias Frere-Jones on the Gerrit Noordzij Priz
Part 1: 'Outgoing'an
Part 2: 'Incoming'
External links
*
Website of Museum Meermanno*
Website of the Dr. P.A. Tiele Trust{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724170747/http://www.tiele-stichting.nl/Default.asp?id=910 , date=2011-07-24
Website of the Royal Academy of Arts
Awards established in 1996
Dutch awards
Design awards