Graphis

What Graphis does

Graphis is a privately-held New York-based creative awards organization and publishing company founded in 1944 by B. Martin Pedersen, operating for over 80 years under the name Graphis Inc. The company runs annual Graphis Awards competitions across 11 active categories spanning Design, Advertising, Photography, Poster, and New Talent disciplines, plus special edition awards (Branding, Logo Design, Type, Letterhead, Protest Posters, Designers for Peace, and AI Creative). It serves three primary customer segments: working creative professionals seeking industry recognition, students and emerging talent via the New Talent competition, and educational institutions and art/design educators who use Graphis as both recognition and curriculum resource.

The core technology consists of a digital platform for online competition submissions and a Shopify-powered e-commerce storefront for publication sales, membership subscriptions, and trophy purchases. Product offerings include physical and digital annual publications documenting award winners (books priced at $30-$75), a quarterly Graphis Journal magazine ($35/issue), four-tier membership subscriptions ($50-$240/year) with portfolio hosting, and a global exhibition hosting program that places curated award-winning work in venues worldwide. The business model is a multi-stream portfolio: competition entry fees ($70 single, $100 series/video), recurring membership and journal subscriptions, one-time publication sales, and trophy/certificate hardware sales. A network of educational institution partnerships (spanning the USA, Canada, Finland, Italy, Poland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Ghana) drives a student-to-professional pipeline and provides physical exhibition distribution without owned infrastructure.

Graphis is privately held with no disclosed external funding, parent company, or subsidiaries. The company operates with 11-50 employees and has historically run a stable, long-tenured awards-and-publishing operation. Recent product development activity has focused on expanding the membership tier structure, launching digital publication formats, adding new competition categories (including the 2026 AI Creative award), and publishing Master Works retrospectives on distinguished designers. The company's growth posture is incremental product extension rather than venture-style scaling.

Name

Graphis

Legal name

Graphis Inc.

Website

https://graphis.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1944

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Graphis is a New York-based, 80+ year-old private creative awards and publishing company operating annual competitions across design, advertising, photography, poster, and new talent categories, serving creative professionals, students, and art/design schools worldwide through awards, publications, memberships, and exhibitions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Creative Awards & Publications

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Directory and Mailing List Publishers (51314)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Book Printing (2732)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAMAGAE

Academic Olympiads & Subject Competitions (Science, Math, Informatics)

Education/Supplemental & Enrichment Programs (Arts, STEM, Language)/Academic Clubs & Competitions (Debate, Model UN, Olympiads)

SECONDARYMPAAAGAC

Trade Show & Exhibition Marketing (Booth Design/Build)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Experiential & Event Marketing Agencies

Keywords

• Creative design awards
• Advertising competitions
• Photography awards
• Design publications
• Poster design competitions

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Award Competition Entry Fees: Creative professionals pay entry fees to submit work to Graphis award competitions. Entry fees range from $70 for single entries to $100 for series/video entries in the New Talent competition.
2. Publication Sales: Sale of Graphis books, annuals, and publications showcasing award-winning work in Design, Advertising, Photography, Poster, and New Talent categories. Physical books priced at $75, digital versions at $30.
3. Journal Subscriptions: Quarterly Graphis Journal magazine delivered to subscribers, included free with Professional membership.
4. Membership Subscriptions: Four-tier membership model (Professional, Creative, Educator, Student) with annual subscriptions offering benefits including discounts on entries, publications, and portfolio hosting.
5. Trophy and Certificate Sales: Award trophies and certificates sold to winners of Graphis competitions. Trophies handcrafted by world-leading manufacturers for prestigious brands.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Graphis operates international creative award competitions and publishes annual books and a quarterly journal showcasing award-winning work across design, advertising, photography, poster design, and emerging talent. It runs entry-based competitions judged by panels, sells print and digital publications, offers tiered membership subscriptions, hosts traveling exhibitions at educational institutions, and sells trophies and certificates to award winners.

Product overview

Graphis operates as a comprehensive creative awards platform and publishing company offering annual awards competitions in Design, Advertising, Photography, Poster, and New Talent categories, plus Special Edition Awards (Branding, Logo, Type, Letterhead, Protest Posters, Designers for Peace). The platform publishes annual books documenting award winners, a quarterly Graphis Journal magazine, and specialized master works books. It maintains portfolio showcases for Masters and members, directories for design schools and professors, and offers four-tier membership programs from Student ($50/year) to Professional ($200/year). The platform also facilitates traveling exhibitions of award-winning work and sells trophy awards to winners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Graphis Journal: Quarterly magazine delivering cutting-edge creative content, profiles, and trends from around the globe
• Graphis Awards

Products and services

• Graphis Annual Awards Competitions Prestigious annual awards competitions recognizing excellence across five major creative disciplines: Advertising, Design, Photography, Poster, and New Talent. Open globally to working creative professionals, agencies, studios, and students; entries are judged by expert panels and awarded Platinum, Gold, or Silver recognition.
• Graphis AI Creative Awards Annual competition category specifically recognizing AI-assisted creative work where entrants must demonstrate significant personal creative input. Open to creative professionals and students using AI tools in their workflow.
• Graphis Special Edition Awards Special edition awards competitions covering focused creative disciplines including Branding, Logo Design, Typography, Letterhead, Protest Posters, and Designers for Peace. Held periodically to recognize excellence in specialty areas of visual communication.
• Graphis Annual Publications (Award Annuals) Hardcover and digital annual books documenting the award-winning work from each year's competitions in Advertising, Design, Photography, Poster, New Talent, and special editions. Physical books priced at $75 and digital versions at $30, featuring high-quality reproductions of Platinum and Gold winning entries.
• Graphis Journal Magazine

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Educational Institutions WorldwidecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGraphis collaborates with educational institutions and organizations worldwide to host curated exhibitions showcasing award-winning work. The partnership allows venues to present world-class visual excellence while providing Graphis with physical presence in global markets. Institutions can contact Graphis to host exhibitions at their venues.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Red Dot Design Award: Red Dot runs annual design and brand competitions with significant international participation and physical award ceremonies, paralleling Graphis Design and Branding Awards in product, packaging, and brand design categories.
• Communication Arts: Communication Arts publishes a bimonthly magazine and runs competitions in advertising, design, photography, and illustration — nearly identical to Graphis's awards + publication + membership stack.
• CLIO Awards: CLIO Awards is a long-established global advertising awards program with paid entries and an entertainment-focused extension, competing head-to-head with Graphis Advertising Awards for agency and brand submissions.
• Pentawards: Pentawards is the leading global packaging design competition, directly overlapping with Graphis's Packaging 11 category. Same agency and brand customer base, similar paid-entry awards model with a published annual.
• D&AD: D&AD is a UK-based creative awards organization running the annual D&AD Pencils competition and publishing the D&AD Annual, overlapping directly with Graphis in design and advertising categories for global creative professionals.
• Type Directors Club (TDC): TDC runs annual typography and type design awards and publishes the TDC Annual, directly comparable to Graphis Type Awards. Both organizations serve type designers and brand/design agencies with curated award programs and printed archives.
• The One Club for Creativity (The One Show): The One Club for Creativity runs The One Show and ADC Annual Awards — direct competitors to Graphis in recognizing creative excellence in advertising, design, and digital craft. Same customer base (agencies, designers), similar award + publication model.

Broad incumbents

• Print Magazine: Print Magazine is a longstanding US design publication covering graphic design, branding, and visual culture. It shares Graphis's editorial and audience overlap with creative professionals, though it leans more editorial-content and less awards-driven.
• AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts): AIGA is the largest US professional association for designers, with membership programs, awards, and publications overlapping Graphis's professional community. It is broader in scope (advocacy, education) but addresses the same creative professional audience.

Emerging players

• AWWWARDS: AWWWARDS is a digital-first site and award program for web design and digital creative work. It overlaps with Graphis's digital creative entrants but is web-specialized and built around a community/jury model that differs from Graphis's print heritage.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Graphis
• Xx.com/graphisinc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Graphis