2013.09.11

The 15th Yusaku Kamekura Award 2013: selection process and exhibition information

Awarded Work:
Works created for art museum’s anniversary celebration The 60th anniversary of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (cl: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
Award Winner: Keiko Hirano


JAGDA Annual: “Graphic Design in Japan 2013” published in June 2013.
Award Ceremony: JAGDA General Assembly 2013 on 14 June, 2013 at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), Tokyo
Exhibition:
Wednesday, 27 March to Friday, 26 April 2013 at Creation Gallery G8
Wednesday, 11 September to Monday, 23 September 2013 at 2F Gallery, The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art

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Selection Processof the 15th Yusaku Kamekura Design Award
Preliminary nominations for the award were made in December 2012 by the 27 members of the JAGDA Annual Screening Committee. Their selections were made from among the 2,443 works entered in the competition to be included in the 2013 edition of the JAGDA Annual: Graphic Design in Japan. To begin, the Committee extracted 52 entries that garnered the highest numbers of votes (24.5 or more: Because the border line number of votes needed for inclusion differed between the various standard graphics categories and the Interactive Design/Video category owing to their different numbers of committee members, the standard graphics categories were used as the standard and scores were computer-adjusted accordingly.) or works that, although they did not have scores satisfying the standard level, had been chosen to win a JAGDA Award in the various categories. In line with the selection rules, 21 works by eight designers who had previously received the award (Katsumi Asaba, Kenya Hara, Shin Matsunaga, Kazumasa Nagai, Masayoshi Nakajo, Taku Satoh, Katsuhiko Shibuya, Ryosuke Uehara) were eliminated, leaving a total of 31 works by 21 finalists.

The final selection was conducted on December 17, 2012 by ten members of the Yusaku Kamekura Design Award Selection Committee. In compliance with the rule that limits one nominated work per designer (or group), designers having multiple nominated works were nominated for the work having garnered the highest number of votes. Also, for collaborative works by multiple members, those works by members that included a previous award winner were eliminated. For the final 21 nominations, each member had the right to cast up to three votes, and the voting took place anonymously. The five works receiving the most votes (three or more) were designated as the finalists: works by Keiko Hirano, Kaoru Kasai, Yukimasa Okumura, Norito Shinmura & Kosuke Niwano, and Yoshihisa Tanaka. a final vote was then taken, and Keiko Hirano won with five votes.
Ms. Hirano's winning work evolved out of a relationship with The Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT) tracking back to its 50th anniversary celebration in 2002, for which she was engaged to design the museum's symbol. Her winning work was cited by the Selection Committee as a "dignified and sincere piece of work that makes us aware once more of the inherent social aspect of graphic design."

Members of Selection Committee
Yusaku Kamekura Award Board of Directors: Kazumasa Nagai (chairman), Katsumi Asaba, Mitsuo Katsui, Koichi Sato, Taku Satoh, Masayoshi Nakajo, Kenya Hara, Shin Matsunaga

Special Committee Members
Shigeo Goto, Kozue Hibino

(Text by the Yusaku Kamekura Design Award Office)