We are thrilled to announce the official kickoff of the 2026 PRINT Awards, marking 46 years of celebrating, honoring, and nurturing the very best in graphic arts and design. What started as a domestic showcase, the PRINT Regional Design Annual, evolved into a global showcase in 2019. As of this year, the program spans 30 award categories across a variety of disciplines.
PRINT Magazine has stood as a venerable voice in design culture for decades, with the PRINT Awards serving as a pillar of that influence and presence. The PRINT Awards have long been a respected benchmark in the design community, offering exposure to and recognition from a jury of top design visionaries, as well as the broader PRINT community. For independent designers and agencies alike, the PRINT Awards serve as both a peer exchange and a showcase, with winning or being shortlisted offering credibility, visibility, and the acknowledgement that all great design deserves.
Where Ideas Take Form
The PRINT Awards 2026 is where ideas take form and where the future begins to take shape. PRINT recognizes the designers and studios turning bold ideas into tangible and meaningful work. We seek work that represents how design drives progress, translating vision into form and creativity into real-world impact. At the same time, the PRINT Awards honors the history of design, acknowledging the legacy of craft, experimentation, and influence that has brought us to this moment. This year’s competition highlights how understanding the past shapes the future, showcasing where design has been, where it is now, and where it’s going next.
Past PRINT Awards honorees-left to right: 2023 Rozi Zhu | First Place Handlettering; 2025 Whiskey Design | Agency of the Year; 2022 Sunday Afternoon | Third Place Editorial
Past PRINT Awards honorees-left to right: 2024 Guerilla Suite | First Place Branding Campaigns; 2025 Vocal Type | First Place Citizen Design; 2023 Poster House and Zipeng Zhu | First Place Advertising
What’s New in 2026
The steady growth of the PRINT Awards over the years reflects the wider globalization and evolution of design itself. We’ve made advancements in our reach and categories, expanding far beyond traditional print and into the realms of packaging, motion, social design, branding, and in-house design. Launching this year is our newest category, Writing for Design. This award celebrates the power of language to shape how we understand, practice, and experience design. It recognizes essays, critiques, stories, and editorial work that offer fresh insights, challenge conventions, or deepen the dialogue around design’s role in culture and our society.
Each year, the PRINT Awards proudly recognizes and celebrates the most impactful work created with a unique societal focus through our Citizen Design category. For 2026, our societal focus will be on mental health. Design for Mental Health spotlights work that embodies the essential role of communication design in delivering critical information to the public, medical professionals, and government leaders. It will honor design that fosters advocacy, awareness, and empathy for mental health and well-being. Submissions can include editorial design, posters, packaging, campaigns, publications, and social media campaigns that use the power of visual media to confront stigma, promote self-care, and encourage more direct conversations about mental health.
Meanwhile, fan-favorites, such as our Graphic Novel category, launched in 2025, will return. Our special recognition categories will remain the same as in previous years: Professional Best of Show, Student Best of Show, Editor’s Choice, Agency of the Year, and the Citizen Design Award (for which there is no entry fee).
We are eager to see the submissions roll in across all of our categories! What are you waiting for?
For more information and to enter the 2026 PRINT Awards, please visit printawards.co or click below.
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