Announcing the 2026 Design Writing Prize Winner and runner up

Awards

29 September, 2026

We are delighted to announced that Katie Meaney, designer, educator and recent fellow at the Smithsonian Institution, is the winner of the 2026 Design Writing Prize judged by Prof Jane Pavitt.

Katie’s work – "From a trail of type to the Trail of Tears" – follows a trail of typography — from England to New England to New Echota — and highlights the innovations of the Cherokee Nation in the early 19th century. This is a story of Sequoyah, his invention of the Cherokee syllabary, and the advent of Cherokee printing — told as a foundational design narrative (hardly framed as such). In doing so, the text positions typography uniquely at the centre of a complex American history. It views industrialism, the novel spread of information, and the convergence of cultures— as seen through the form of type. Type as cultural preservation; type as innovation; type as revolution. Written as a learning resource with design students in mind and to witness typography and history together. Written to weave new scholarship (from historians, linguists, and digital collections). And written from North Carolina, in a state that owes a great debt to indigenous peoples and culture.

Read the winning paper here: https://www.typotheque.com/articles/from-a-trail-of-type-to-the-trail-of-tears

Find out more about Katie here: https://designobserver.com/authors/kathleen-meaney/

Follow Katie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/university_of_type/

 

The runner up for the 2026 prize was the paper "Animating the Dryad ‘Handicrafts’ Collection: Representing Africa in a Craft-Practice Encyclopaedia" by Maria Scuderi. This paper is a condensed version of an article which comes from Maria's PhD dissertation "The Circulation Histories of the Dryad ‘Handicrafts’ Collection. Exhibitions, Global Networks and Crafts Practice Education."

 

Congratulations to Katie and Maria!