GRANSHAN Competition

GRAN­SHAN celeb­rates the diversity and rich­ness of typo­graphic scripts that under­pin global commu­nic­a­tion, empower communit­ies and enable iden­tity.

The GRAN­SHAN type compet­i­tion expli­citly seeks to recog­nise the most notable typefaces for indi­vidual scripts other than Latin, as well as multiscript famil­ies.

Type design­ers, type foundries and clients with custom typefaces from all parts of the world are invited to take part. All typefaces designed or digit­ised in or after 2020 in compli­ance with the require­ments of the compet­i­tion are eligible for submis­sion.

This compet­i­tion, we are pleased to invite entries across an expans­ive array of ten distinct Script Groups.

The Chair­per­sons of the GRAN­SHAN compet­i­tion, Veronika Burian and Toshi Omagari, are respons­ible for the appoint­ment of the Script Chairs and for moder­at­ing the compet­i­tion as non-voting Chair­per­sons.

Each Script Group is moder­ated by a so-called Script Chair. To ensure continu­ity in the eval­u­ation over the years, the Script Chairs are desig­nated for several years. The Script Special­ists are chosen collect­ively by the Script Chairs together with the Chair­per­sons.

Arabic

Arabic, Persian, Kurdish, Urdu

“Edik Ghabuzyan Life­time Achieve­ment Award for Armenian Type Design”

With great respect, we would like to thank Edik Ghabuzyan on the occa­sion of his retire­ment for his unique contri­bu­tion to the Armenian type design and the estab­lish­ment of GRAN­SHAN: in the 13th GRAN­SHAN Type Design Compet­i­tion 2023/2024, the Armenian script group will receive the “Edik Ghabuzyan Life­time Achieve­ment Award for Armenian Type Design”. In this script group, the submis­sion costs are borne by GRAN­SHAN itself and compet­ing is there­fore free of charge for submit­ters. In order to celeb­rate Edik Ghabuzyan and the Armenian type design in partic­u­lar, submis­sions will only be accep­ted in the A1/A2 category for text and display typefaces, which focuses on Armenian type design.

Chinese

Tradi­tional or simpli­fied

Cyril­lic

Geor­gian ^NEW

Greek

Hebrew

Korean

South Asian Scripts

South­east Asian Scripts ^NEW

Submis­sions are possible in three main categor­ies – A (for non-Latin Typefaces), B (for non-Latin/Latin Typefaces) and C (for Multiscript Typefaces).
Every category has its own sub-categor­ies for Text and for Display Typefaces.
In this way, entries are possible in six categor­ies to account for the wide range of multi­lin­gual typeface projects:

Category A1: Text Typefaces
This category is reserved exclus­ively for text typefaces in one or more of the script groups listed above, without Latin comple­ments. Note that, in this category, display typefaces shall not be accep­ted.

Category A2: Display Typefaces
This category is reserved exclus­ively for display typefaces in one or more of the Script Groups listed above, without Latin comple­ments. Note that text typefaces are not accep­ted in this category.

Category B1: Text Typefaces with a Latin comple­ment
This category is desig­nated for text typefaces with a Latin comple­ment to be used in combin­a­tion. This can be a pairing with both scripts developed at the same time, or one of the two scripts newly developed. In the case of a newly developed Latin comple­ment, the quality of the Latin will also be eval­u­ated along with the quality of the text typeface. In any case, the inter­ac­tion between the two scripts will be rated. Typefaces from the nine script groups listed above can be submit­ted. Note that display typefaces are not accep­ted in this category.

Category B2: Display Typefaces with a Latin comple­ment
This category is desig­nated for display typefaces with a Latin comple­ment to be used in combin­a­tion. This can be a pairing with both scripts developed at the same time, or one of the two scripts newly developed. In the case of a newly developed Latin comple­ment, the quality of the Latin will also be eval­u­ated along with the quality of the display typeface. In any case, the inter­ac­tion between the two scripts will be rated. Typefaces from the nine Script Groups listed above can be submit­ted. Note that text typefaces are not accep­ted in this category.

Category C1: Multiscript Text Typefaces
This category is reserved for text typefaces with at least two script comple­ments beyond Latin inten­ded to work together. An accom­pa­ny­ing Latin version shall be accep­ted but is not required. Display typefaces are not accep­ted in this category.

Category C2: Multiscript Display Typefaces

This category is reserved for display typefaces with at least two script comple­ments beyond Latin inten­ded to work together. An accom­pa­ny­ing Latin version shall be accep­ted but is not required. Text typefaces are not accep­ted in this category.

Your regis­tra­tion in the submis­sion tool as well as the creation of drafts are free of charge. Submis­sions are subject to a fee from the time the submis­sion is completed. After that, submis­sions cannot be cancelled or refun­ded.

The fees outlined in the table are set as a minimum. Any addi­tional higher payment on a volun­tary basis would be very welcome.

Fees include VAT. For the first time, payment can now be made directly in the submis­sion tool via Stripe (credit cards, PayPal and others).

Small and medium-sized compan­ies

Small and medium-sized compan­ies with less than 20 employ­ees and/or collab­or­at­ors.

Bigger compan­ies

Compan­ies with 20 or more employ­ees and/or collab­or­at­ors

Students, freel­an­cers, low-income coun­tries

Special rates for students, freel­an­cers and resid­ents of low-income coun­tries.

In order to create a trans­par­ent and fair eval­u­ation system, we have estab­lished a three-level proced­ure:
A long­list, where all anonymised entries will be eval­u­ated by the Script Special­ists with an online scoring system plus personal comments from the experts. Entries with a minimum score will make it onto the short­l­ist. The Script Special­ists will discuss the submis­sions in an online video confer­ence. After the discus­sion, each Script Special­ist and the Script Chair will make their recom­mend­a­tion for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize, as well as special mentions, in an online scoring system. Prize winners are determ­ined on this basis in an online video confer­ence of all Script Chairs together with both Chair­per­sons.

There is a lot to win at GRAN­SHAN: First, second and third prizes in each of the Script Groups for each of the categor­ies, special mentions and the GRAN­SHAN Grand Prize of 3,000 € for the best of the best.

The organ­isers of the GRAN­SHAN compet­i­tion reserve the right to display submit­ted typefaces at the exhib­i­tions, in the press, in social media and in any other relev­ant public­a­tions. There­fore, we kindly ask for a short 20-word bio and a portrait photo of the type designer(s) in a print­able resol­u­tion in A6.

No font source files will be made publicly avail­able!

1. All typefaces designed or digit­ised in or after 2020 in compli­ance with the require­ments of the compet­i­tion are eligible for submis­sion.
2. Typefaces may be submit­ted by anyone involved in their design and produc­tion, as a client or as a market­ing depart­ment (when submit­ting, please define your posi­tion).
3. All submit­ted typefaces shall comply with and use the Unicode encod­ing system.
4. Entries can be single typefaces or type famil­ies, reviv­als or new devel­op­ments. Custom fonts are welcome, as well as student projects on a profes­sional level.
5. You can, of course, submit multiple entries to this contest. Please use a separ­ate form in the online applic­a­tion for each entry and submit separ­ate PDFs. Also please note that each submis­sion must be paid for separ­ately.
6. Even though the GRAN­SHAN community has been affected by violent conflicts all over the world in the past, we have come to the conclu­sion that the current situ­ation requires a clear state­ment. We have there­fore decided that we require every­one to confirm a declar­a­tion of commit­ment.