Rudo Spemann Prize

Until Rudolf "Rudo" Spemann died as a Russian prisoner of war in 1947 at the age of 42, the type designer and calligrapher drew for the satirical weekly magazine Simplicissimus and designed typefaces such as Gavotte, which was published by the Klingspor brothers' type foundry in 1940. The Spemann family left his estate to the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach am Main when it was founded in 1953. In return, the city of Offenbach has since awarded the Rudo Spemann Prize every two years, which has been awarded internationally since 1979. It is aimed at trainees in the field of type design. The aim is to maintain awareness of the expressiveness of handwriting and to recognize this accent of type design in the mirror of artistic forms of expression.

The aim of the competition, from whose entries prize-worthy works are selected by a jury procedure, is to promote and demonstrate the technique of handwriting in the broadest sense between ornamental design and the individual shaping of personal handwriting as a living means of expression.