Welcome to the Type Directors Club’s 72nd Annual Competition. The TDC has been a beacon of typographic achievement for over seven decades, recognizing outstanding work across communication design, type design, and lettering.
Whether you’re an old-school master technician or a cutting-edge street stylist, we want to celebrate and elevate your work.
Last year’s competition entries came from over 60 countries and writing systems, exemplifying the global nature of our discipline. The winning work included emerging voices and renowned leaders, spanning agencies, studios, independent designers, and type foundries.
ENTRY DEADLINES
EARLY BIRD: 14 November 2025
DEADLINE: 23 January 2026
FINAL DEADLINE: 27 February 2026
Disciplines: Communication Design, Lettering, Type Design
COMMUNICATION DESIGN
Communication Design is for any creation that uses type, lettering, or written langauge—be it print design, digital design, immersive experiences, architecture, fashion, film titles, social media campaigns, or otherwise.
PHYSICAL ENTRIES FOR THESE CATEGORIES ARE NOW ACCEPTED:
– Packaging Design
– Poster Design
– Publication Design
LETTERING
Lettering is for work where the letters are either modified or created—this could entail traditional or abstract calligraphy, tattoos, wordmarks and custom logotypes, or typefaces that are just a little too out there to be classic typeface design.
TYPE DESIGN
Type Design is for entries showcasing the design of workable font software; this could mean single typefaces, type families, emoji or symbol fonts, or software for generating and creating type.
Global Script Experts
Continuing our commitment to entries from around the world, the TDC72 jury will include native experts for most major writing systems, including Arabic, Cyrillic, Indic, CJK, Latin, Thai, and select African scripts.
Regional Entry Discounts
To make TDC72 as accessible as possible on a global level, the organization is offering significant regional discounts on entry fees. Approximately half of the world’s countries qualify for a 60% discount, and another quarter of them receive a 20% discount, with only the most economically prosperous countries and regions paying the full entry fee. Additional discounts are also available
Website link: https://enter.tdc.org/
