Gerrit Noordzij Prize
Encyclopedia
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 is awarded every three years by the Royal Academy of Art
in The Hague
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.
Through the years, the jury has consisted of:
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
for extraordinary contributions to the fields of type design, typography and type education. The prize is awarded every three years by the Royal Academy of Art
Royal Academy of Art (The Hague)
The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague is an art academy in the Netherlands. It is the oldest art academy in Europe. Known in Dutch as "Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag" it was founded on 29 September 1682 when its predecessor, the Haagsche Teekenakademie was dissolved.- External...
in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
together with the Museum Meermanno, under the auspices of the Dr. P.A. Tiele Trust. The prize is named after Gerrit Noordzij
Gerrit Noordzij
Gerrit Noordzij is a Dutch typographer, typeface designer, and author.-Career:Gerrit Noordzij began his career as a graphic designer and as a bookbinder's apprentice. Since then he has designed and authored dozens of books on typography and design. He also makes drawings, wood engravings, copper...
, 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:
- Jack Verduyn Lunel (director of the Royal Academy of Arts)
- Leo Voogt (director of Museum Meermanno)
- Ada Lopes Cardozo (head of the graphic designGraphic designGraphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
department at the Royal Academy of Arts). - Gerard UngerGerard UngerGerard Unger is a graphic and type designer. He studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam from 1963-67, and subsequently worked at Total Design, Prad and Joh. Enschedé. In 1975, he established himself as an independent developer...
(professor of typography at the University of Leiden Department of Arts) - Petr van Blokland (type designer and teacher at the Royal Academy of Arts)
- Gerrit NoordzijGerrit NoordzijGerrit Noordzij is a Dutch typographer, typeface designer, and author.-Career:Gerrit Noordzij began his career as a graphic designer and as a bookbinder's apprentice. Since then he has designed and authored dozens of books on typography and design. He also makes drawings, wood engravings, copper...
(type designer and teacher of type design) - Fred SmeijersFred SmeijersFred Smeijers is a Dutch graphic, type designer and writer. He studied at the ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem in the early 1980s.- Work :...
(type designer and teacher of type design) - Erik SpiekermannErik SpiekermannErik Spiekermann is a German typographer and designer. He is a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen....
(type designer, graphic designer and co-director of FSI FontShop International)
Laureates
- 1996: Gerrit NoordzijGerrit NoordzijGerrit Noordzij is a Dutch typographer, typeface designer, and author.-Career:Gerrit Noordzij began his career as a graphic designer and as a bookbinder's apprentice. Since then he has designed and authored dozens of books on typography and design. He also makes drawings, wood engravings, copper...
(Netherlands) - 2001: Fred SmeijersFred SmeijersFred Smeijers is a Dutch graphic, type designer and writer. He studied at the ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem in the early 1980s.- Work :...
(Netherlands) - 2003: Erik SpiekermannErik SpiekermannErik Spiekermann is a German typographer and designer. He is a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen....
(Germany) - 2006: Tobias Frere-JonesTobias Frere-JonesTobias Frere-Jones is a prolific type designer who works in New York City with fellow type designer Jonathan Hoefler at Hoefler & Frere-Jones, a type foundry in lower Manhattan...
(United States) - 2009: Wim CrouwelWim CrouwelWillem Hendrik Crouwel is a Dutch graphic designer and typographer.Between 1947 and 1949 he studied Fine Arts at Academie Minerva in Groningen, The Netherlands...
(Netherlands)
Publications
Different books have been published about, in honor of, or presented at the exhibitions:- Mathieu Lommen, Anno Fekkes, Jan Willem Stas (et al.): Het primaat van de pen: een workshop letterontwerpen met Gerrit Noordzij, The Hague (2001).
- 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).
- FontShop Benelux (ed.): e - Erik Spiekermann, The Hague/De Pinte (2006).
- Dawn Barrett, David Berlow, Matthew Carter (et al.): Tobias Frere-Jones Gerrit Noordzij Prize Exhibition, Amsterdam (2009).