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    • Dec 19, 2023

Morisawa Officially Launches Type Design Competition 2024 and Introduces New Categories:

Updated: Mar 19

Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Hangeul



Morisawa Inc. is pleased to announce “Morisawa Type Design Competition 2024”, calling for entries of original typefaces from around the world. We seek typeface designs with creativity and aesthetic excellence of designs. We are looking for works with new expressivity and full of challenging spirit from all over the world.

In the 2024 edition, in addition to the traditional Japanese and Latin categories, we are excited to announce the introduction of new categories: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Hangeul. This expansion reflects our commitment to fostering creativity and development in East Asian typography, including Chinese and Hangeul.


Since its inception as the “Morisawa Award International Typeface Design Competition” in 1984, it has been dedicated to fostering typeface designers and providing a platform for the discovery and promotion of outstanding design talent, with the support of diverse and renowned judges from various industries for over 30 years. Among the submitted entries, some have been commercialized by Morisawa, such as “Suzumushi” (Type Design Competition 2012) and “Vonk Pro” (same competition in 2016). These fonts have left a lasting impression on many and continue to be widely used.


The submission period for this competition will run from spring to summer 2024, with results expected to be announced in early 2025 following the judging process. Anyone, regardless of age or nationality, is welcome to apply, and there is no entry fee. Details regarding the specific schedule and application guidelines will be provided around February 2024.


〈 Morisawa Type Design Competition 2024 Awards 〉

Morisawa Award (Categories: Japanese, Latin, Simplified Chinese, Traditional

Chinese, and Hangeul)

  • Gold Prize: 1 work

  • Silver Prize: 1 work

  • Bronze prize: 1 work

  • Honorable Mention: 5 works

Fan favorite (Categories: Japanese, Latin, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese,

and Hangeul)

  • Highest number and 2nd highest number of votes (1 work each) Awards are determined by a vote of the public.


● Insights into the Morisawa Type Design Competition 2019:

In the Morisawa Type Design Competition 2019, we received 813 entry works from 53 countries (258 works for Japanese category, 555 works for Latin category). After a thorough evaluation process, including judging panels and fan voting, the final selection resulted in a total of 16 award-winning designs.


Judges for the Japanese category in the 2019 competition. From left to right: Ryoko Nishizuka, Osamu Torinoumi, Issei Kitagawa, and Masaaki Hiromura.
Judges for the Latin category in the 2019 competition. From left to right: Laura Meseguer, Ilya Ruderman, Cyrus Highsmith, Matthew Carter(as the emeritus jury), and Indra Kupferschmid.
Trophies presented to the winners of the 2019 competition.
Exhibition of award-winning designs “Morisawa x GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS Type Design Discovery” at GINZA ATRIUM.


[ Morisawa Type Design Competitionʼs official web site]

*The information for the 2024 edition will be updated in early spring 2024.


[ Morisawa Type Design Competitionʼs special promotional video ]





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