Created in 1986, the Icograda Excellence Award honours a specific piece or a body of work and may be presented to an individual, a team, or an organisation in recognition of outstanding achievement.

The award scheme was established to support the promotion of graphic design and the professional graphic designer at the national and international level. The original award was a trophy made of ebony, silver and a glass sphere, designed by Stig Hogdal (Sweden), Icograda President 1981-1983.

Today, recipients receive a certificate signed by the Icograda President.

Events endorsed by Icograda have the option of presenting an Icograda Excellence Award as a benefit of the endorsement.

For more information on submitting a nomination, please contact the .

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Past recipients

1986
Christof Gassner (Switzerland) - Brno Biennale

Henryk Tomaszewski (Poland) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale


1987
Uwe Loesch (Germany) - Lahti Poster Biennale
Mario Boselli, President Milan Fair (Italy) - AIAP

Ricard Giralt Miracle (Spain) - CODIG

Knut Yran, Phillips Eindhoven (Norway) - NGD

Ronald Shakspear (Argentina)

Albe Steiner (Italy)* - ADI
Arturo Carlo Quintavalle (Italy) - ADI


1988
Kenneth & Shelagh Adshead (UK) - for service to the Icograda Archive
Seymour Chwast (United States) - Brno Biennale
Karl Neubacher* (Austria) - GDA, Austria
Zvi Narkiss (Israel) - GDAI
Alain de Quernec (France) - XII Intemational Poster Biennale

1989
Dror Ben-Dov (Israel) - GDAI
Prof. Yarom Vardimon (Israel) - GDAI
Yusaku Kamekura (Japan) - Icograda | JAGDA Pan Pacific Design Congress
Henri Henrion (United Kingdom) - London Design Seminar

1990
Kari Pippo (Finland) - Chaumont Festival of Posters
Quantel** (United Kingdom) - PIRA/RSA Design Festival London

1991
Sebastio Rodriguez (Portugal) - APD
Lex Drewinski, ARP Design (Poland) - Chaumont Poster Festival

1992
Dept. of Social Security (United Kingdom) - PIRA/RSA Design Festival 
Gerard Paris-Clavel (France) - Chaumont Festival of Posters
Keizo Matsui (Japan) - XV Brno Biennale
Studio Novikolektivizem (Slovenia) - BIO 13
Michel Olyff (Belgium) - Icograda Board
Vincente Rojo (Spain) - Icograda Board
Niklaus Troxler (Switzerland) - Mexico Poster Biennale

1993
Tapani Aartomaa & Una Aartomaa (Finland Seitaro) - 10th Lahti Poster Biennale
Kuroda & Keisuke Nagatomo (Japan) - 4 Chaumont Festival of Posters

1994
Gisli B. Bjornsson (Iceland) - FIT
Anton Stanowski (Germany) - BDG
Istvan Orosz (Hungary) - 5 Chaumont Poster Festival
Asymetrix Corp. (United States) - SMAU Industrial Design Award
TRIO Design Group (Bosnia Herzegovina) - BIO 14

1995
James Victore (United States) - 6 Chaumont Poster Festival
Oracle (United States) - SMAU Industrial Design Award
Dan Jonsson (Sweden) - FST
Koichi SA To (Japan) - Helsinki International Poster Biennale
John McConnell, Pentagram (United Kingdom) - ZGRAF 7

1996
Tiit Telmet (Canada) - GDC
Pierre Neumann (Switzerland) - 7 Chaumont Poster Festival
Werner Jeker (Switzerland) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale

Microsoft Corp. (United States) - SMAU Industrial Design Award
Xu Wang (China) - Brno Biennale

1997
Pekka Llori (Finland) - Helsinki International Poster Biennale
Intergraph Corp. (United States) - SMAU Industrial Design Award
Pralni Stroj (Slovenia) - BIO 15

1998
Ralph Schralvogel (Switzerland) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale

Anabella Salem & Gabriel Mateu (Argentina) - 9 Chaumont Poster Festival
Studio Dumbar (Netherlands) - Brno Biennale
Adobe Systems Inc. (United States) - SMAU Industrial Design Award
Christian Losch/Maxon Computer (Germany) - SMAU Industrial Design Award
JAGDA (Japan)  - BIO 16

1999
Joao Machado (Portugal) - ZGRAF 8
Danilo Premoli, Tucano S.r.l., (Italy) - SMAU Industrial Design Award
Peter Felder (Austria) - 10 Chaumont Poster Festival

2000
David Jury (United Kingdom) - Brno Bienniale
Luba Lukova (Bulgaria/United States) - 11 Chaumont Poster Festival
Henning Wagenbreth (Germany) - Trnava Poster Triennial
Nippon Design Center (Japan) - BIO 2000
Deepend Roma (Italy) - SMAU Industrial Design Award

2001
Cornel Widlin (Switzerland) -  12 Chaumont Poster Festival
Orsat Frankovic (Croatia) - 02 Annual Exhibition of Croatian Designers
Bülent Erkmen (Turkey) - Lahti International Poster Biennale
Lex Drewinski (Poland) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale


2002
Yu Hao-hong (China) - Red Cross International Poster Exhibition
Zongshun Bian (China) - Logo 2002
Gerard Paris-Clavel (France) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale

Tadanori Yokoo (Japan) - Brno Biennale
Francesco Sammarco (Italy) - SMAU Industrial Design Award

2003
Lech Majewski (Poland) - Trnava Poster Triennial
Melchior Imboden (Switzerland) - 14 Chaumont Poster Festival
Anke Feuchtenberger Saksa (Germany) - Lahti Poster Biennial
Shin Matsunaga (Japan) -  BIO 18

2004
Alain Le Quernec (France) - 15 Chaumont Poster Festival
Saed Meshki (Iran) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale

Barbieri+Bucher Gestaltung (Switzerland) - Brno Biennale
Zrinka Penava Dogan (Croatia) - BIO 19
Tahamtan Aminian (Iran) - 8th Tehran International Poster Biennial
Gianni Bortolotti (Italy) - Zgraf 9

2005
Michel Quarez (France) - 16 Chaumont Poster Festival
Hilppa Hyrkaes (Finland) - Lahti Poster Biennale
Melchior Imboden (Switzerland) - Taiwan International Poster Design Award

2006
Stefan Sagmeister (France) - 17 Chaumont Poster Festival
Stephan Bundi (Switzerland) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale

Pazu Lee Ka Ling (China) - Brno Biennale
Eric Cai (China) - Trnava Poster Triennial
Shin Matsunaga (Japan) - Taiwan International Poster Design Award
Gigodesign (Slovenia) - BIO 20
Bilic Muller Design Studio (Croatia) - 040506 Exhibition

2007
Gunter Rambow (Germany) - 18 Chaumont Poster Festival
Amirali Ghasemi (Iran) - 9th Tehran International Poster Biennial
Tomasz Kipka (Poland) - Taiwan International Poster Design Award 2007

2008
Piotr Mlodozeniec (Poland) - 19 Chaumont Poster Festival
Pierre Mendell (Germany) -  Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale

Jekyll & Hyde (Italy) - Brno Biennale
Niklaus Troxler (Switzerland) - Zgraf 10
Ruta - Dejan Dragosavac (Croatia) - HDD 0708

2009
Kim Do-hyung (Korea) - 20 Chaumont Poster Festival
Liza Defossez Ramalho, Artur Rebelo (Portugal) -  Trnava Poster Triennial
Leonardo Sonnoli (Italy) - Taiwan International Poster Design Award 2009

2010
Niklaus Troxler (Switzerland) - 21 Chaumont Poster Festival
Kari Piippo (Finland) - Warsaw Internationale Poster Biennale

Nikola Đurek (Croatia) - HDD 0910

2011
Hei Yiyang (China) - Taiwan International Graphic Design Awards 2011

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* Awarded posthumously
** First Excellence Award given to industry