The Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing & Criticism seek to increase the understanding and appreciation of design, both within the profession and throughout American life. A program of AIGA, these annual awards have been founded by Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel of the Winterhouse Institute to recognize excellence in writing about design and encourage the development of young voices in design writing, commentary and criticism.

Submissions for the 2008 awards must be submitted by June 2, 2008.

There are two types of awards:

Writing award of $10,000
Open to writers, critics, scholars, historians, journalists and designers and given for a body of work.

Education award of $1,000
Open to students (high school, undergraduate or graduate) whose use of writing, in the interest of making visual work or scholarship or cultural observation, demonstrates extraordinary originality and promise.

This awards program is part of a larger AIGA initiative to stimulate new levels of design awareness and critical thinking about design. The 2008 awards will be announced in August and presented at the AIGA Design Legends Gala on September 18 in New York City.

Apply Online.