Morcos Key, Principle, and Universal Thirst Win Best of Disciples in TDC69 Competition

May. 16, 2023

The Type Directors Club, the world’s leading typography organization and part of The One Club for Creativity, announced the Best of Discipline for professional and student entries and Judge’s Choice winners in its prestigious TDC69 Competition.

Best of Typography was awarded to Morcos Key New York for "I Want Sky", a newsprint collection of prose, poems, and hybrid work celebrating Egyptian activist Sarah Hegazy, created for the publication Mizna.

Best of Lettering went to Principal Montréal for their 2022 branding for "Jardins de Metis". With that year's theme of "adaptation", the design features animated lettering that moves and adapts to its container and the letters surrounding it.

Universal Thirst, based in Bangalore and Reykjavik, received Best of Type Design for their psychedelic-inspired display Tamil typeface "Ilai".

TDC69’s student entries also received Best of Discipline honors, along with a monetary prize, to the following:

• Lettering: Zixuan Zhang, Pratt Institute, New York, for “To Scry: A portal to re-enchantment”.
• Typography: Liad Shadmi, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, for “The Alphabetical Room”.
• Type Design: Reina Akkoush, American University of Beirut, for “Yasar”.

The esteemed jury of 28 leading professionals from around the world also made their personal Judge’s Choice selections from among all of this year’s winners, which will appear in Typography 44: The World’s Best Typography® annual alongside a write-up on why each judge felt the work deserved special honor.

TDC69 winners were announced last month, with Morcos Key New York leading the way with five TDC69 Certificates of Typographic Excellence.  Studio Dumbar/DEPT Rotterdam, The New York Times Magazine New York, and Typotheque The Hague were awarded four wins each. 

A showcase of all TDC69 Certificate of Typographic Excellence winners can be viewed here.  

Entries were received from 77 countries this year and winners were selected from 42, both totals being the most in the organization’s 76-year history.  The top five countries for winners are the United States with 52, followed by Germany with 24, China with 23, Netherlands with 11, and Ukraine with nine. 

Previously divided into two competitions, one each for Communications Design and Typeface Design, the program is now a single competition consisting of three disciplines: Typography, Type Design, and, for the first time, Lettering.

All winners of TDC69 receive a Certificate of Typographic Excellence certifying their work is among the world’s best of the year.  Winning work will also be featured in the highly respected TDC Annual, The World’s Best Typography®, and showcased in eight exhibitions that travel to museums, schools, and design organizations around the world.