The city of Brno, the capital of Moravia in the south of the Czech Republic, has held Graphic Design Biennales since 1964. The theme alternates between posters/corporate identity and illustration/editorial art. This year's turn was posters, including corporate identity and information and advertising graphics. More than 6000 entries were received, from which the local preselection jury picked 1200 works. About half of the designers took this first hurdle. In the Biennale, 449 designers from 47 countries are represented, with Japan beeing the group with the most participants (81), followed by the Czech Republic (53) and Germany (36). For the first time, the graphic designers from China contributed in large numbers (31). Among the prize winners, Switzerland stands out with 4 awards from a total of 15. Surprisingly, none of the many excellent designs from Japan found the jury's favor this year.

The prize winners

The jury - Colin Banks from London, Josef Flejsar from Prague, Vladimir Chaika from Moscow, Melchior Imboden from Buochs, Switzerland, Kari Piippo from Mikkeli, Finland, Rostislav Vanek from Prag, James Victore from New York and Tadanori Yokoo from Tokyo - awarded the following prizes:

Grand Prix

Ralph Schraivogel, Switzerland Cinema Africa, poster for a film festival

Category 1 - Posters

Gold Medal Claudia Schmauder, Switzerland Poster for an exhibition on the history of coffe pot design

Silver Medal Ateliers des Arts Plastiques, College Brizeux, Quimper, France Anti drug poster

Bronze Medal Marna Bunnell, Canada Anti drug poster

Category 2 - Corporate Identity, Information and Advertising Graphics

Gold Medal Richard Feurer, Switzerland Visual identity for the exhibition Virus Express (poster, catalogue, invitation card) The book cover is made with iridescent colors, which may have confused my scanner a bit.

No silver or bronze medal was awarded

Special Awards

The Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic Award Thomas Mattheus Mueller, Germany Poster for a theater festival

The Mayor of the City of Brno Award Yossi Lemel, Israel Political poster The poster that I showed previously at this place, one of a series of posters for Amnesty International, is not the one for which the price was awarded. Thank you, jury member Kari Piippo, for correcting my mistake.

The Alfons Mucha Prize (for a poster) Radana Lencova, Czech Republic Decorative poster The original poster has a pattern of dots, and looks much nicer than the collage of moires that you see here. Sorry about that.

The Rapid Advertising Agency Award Georges Calame, Switzerland Commercial poster for a furniture shop

The President of the Brno Biennale 1998 of Brno Award Shaohua Chen, China Poster for an invitational poster exhibition in Shenzhen

International Jury Special Award Jacek Mrowczyk, Poland Educational poster

Other prizes, but not specifically for posters, went to Studio Dumbar (ICOGRADA Excellence Award), Garry Emery (International Award for Design), The Attik (The TypoDesignClub Award) and Julia Hasting (International Institure for Information Design Award).



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