About the 2007 awards

AIGA and the Winterhouse Institute are pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing & Criticism, Jade Chang and Erica Nooney. A program of AIGA, these annual awards were founded by William Drenttel and Jessica Helfand of the Winterhouse Institute to recognize excellence in writing about design and to encourage the development of voices under 40 engaged in critical thinking about design and visual culture in the United States. The two awards were presented at the fourth annual AIGA Design Legends Gala on September 19, 2007, in New York City.

The awards were judged by three distinguished writers and editors, each of whom is renowned for exceptional writing about design and visual culture: Allison Arieff, former editor-in-chief of Dwell and current designer-in-residence at IDEO; Melissa Harris, editor-in-chief of Aperture; and Bruce Sterling, science fiction novelist and blogger at Wired.com.

“As it’s our second year hosting the competition, we were encouraged by the overwhelming quality of the submissions in both the professional and student categories,” notes Winterhouse partner and Design Observer co-founder William Drenttel, who also chaired this year’s judging. “The jury was impressed with the energy of the writing—and the range of approaches to design and approaches to writing. Furthermore, we were surprised by the technical quality of the writing, the maturity of prose and style in so many of the entries. The recipients, Jade and Erica, were selected unequivocally by this year’s panel, and we feel that both of these young writers hold great promise to grow as essayists and critics.”

The awards are supported by the generosity of more than 50 benefactors, including schools and universities, design firms and individuals, print and online media, and paper and printing benefactors. Through their generosity, the awards are financially supported for the next five years.

Submissions for next year’s awards will be accepted starting in March 2008.