Winners of the student poster competition "PoStar", Taiwan 2009

Received from Sophia Shih, Past Secretary General and Managing Director of Taiwan Poster Design Association. The winners will be announced and the works shown at the NTNU Gallery, National Taiwan Normal University, 2008.02.28 - 2009.03.05, together with the Taiwan Poster Design Association's annual exhibition, this year with the subject Global Warming. The Landscape and the Starscape of Poster Design Reflections on Taiwan PoStar Award 2009 by Apex Lin, Pang-Soong / Research Chair Professor of National Taiwan Normal University Director of Cultural & Creative Industries Center, Taipei If we take a look at the design policies adopted in other countries with advanced design, it is clear that a concrete vision for the future is first outlined, strategies and schemes are planned, and then implementation of the policies is carried out step by step. The Taiwan Image Poster Design Association was established in 1991, and since then, the Taiwan Poster Design Association (TPDA) has made it a clear goal to boost Taiwan's poster design and international promotion, and all the TPDA members for years have been continually toiling at this goal, which has made the TPDA one of the most internationalized design associations in Taiwan and a bridge successfully promoting design interaction and exchange between Taiwan and the world. In addition to acting as a farmer diligently cultivating the association platform for promoting professional poster design, the TPDA also wishes to equip Taiwan's budding design talents with professional knowledge and skills of poster design. Through participation in design competitions, the budding talents may develop their design ability, increase their strength, accumulate the overall design energy of Taiwan, and occupy a prominent position on the international design stage, which shall make 'Taiwan posters' globally famous and eye-catching. Thus, I, as the then President of the TPDA, in 2002 proposed organizing the 'PoStar Award' in the hope that talented students might make their poster design debut through such a competition as a PoStar (Star of Poster) and that Taiwan might gain its position on the international poster design landscape through the brand name POSTAR. My immature proposal is now implemented by Mr. Horng-Jer Lin, the incumbent President of the TPDA, who has shown his strong willpower and made joint efforts with the board of directors and supervisors to successfully host Taiwan PoStar Award 2009. The 1st 'Taiwan PoStar Award' attracted an entry of 2,300 from 74 art and design schools. The panel of judges included David Wang, Taddy Ho, Ming-Lung Yu, Stony Cherng, Tsun-Hsiung Yao, Leslie Wing Kei Chan, and Shih-Chieh Hung. 173 outstanding entries were selected by the jury, and the prizes included one Gold Award, two Silver Awards, three Bronze Awards, seven Judge Awards, twenty-six Excellence Awards and 134 Selected Awards. Only 7% of the entries were awarded prizes. Judging from the fact that the competition attracted a large number of entries and only a small percentage of the entries won prizes, the Taiwan PoStar Award has met strict standards of international design competitions and made a solid foundation for its future development. If we reflect on Taiwan's design development from a strategic perspective of global design competitions, Taiwan does stand a chance of holding a prominent position on the global design landscape or becoming a magnetic field in global design circles through years of strategic development and promotion. Based on such a reflection, the scale and the form of the Taiwan PoStar Award already have been in line with international design competitions. I would like to suggest that those who host the competition in the future 'make it open to students both at home and abroad', 'appoint more international authoritative judges', and 'improve the system of collecting winning entries, hoping that the blueprint for promoting Taiwan poster design will be well implemented, our position on the global design landscape will be consolidated with our core value and resource advantages, the starscape of Taiwan poster design will gradually be respected and recognized all over the world, and then the POSTAR brand will gain its global awareness. I would like to extend my thanks to the incumbent President of the TPDA, Mr. Horng-Jer Lin, and the board of directors and supervisors for their efforts at discovering 173 new talented stars twinkling in the sky of Taiwan poster design. I hope that you all will continue to shine on the global design landscape and starscape in the future.

Gold Award Wei Liao

Gold Award Wei Liao

Silver Award Shiao-Hui Chen

Silver Award Ahn Shun Cheng

Bronze Award Wang Szu Chiang

Bronze Award Veidy Hsueh

Bronze Award Veidy Hsueh

Bronze Award Veidy Hsueh

Bronze Award Chen Chen

Bronze Award Chen Chen

Bronze Award Chen Chen