November 11, 2009 - 16:34 AMT
Results of Grenshan 2009 font contest summed up
"Grenshan 2009" international font contest was held this year for the second time. Armenia participated in contest in 6 nominations - "Armenian Typewriter", "Armenian Textbook Font", "Latin Typewriter", "Cyrillic Typewriter" and "Freestyle Font". Prize winner in contest was Edik Gabuzyan, Head of the Font Development and Maintenance Department at National Book Chamber.
Contest is aimed at developing Armenian electronic fonts and achieving their recognition on international level.
This year's contest attracted 54 applications from 12 countries, including Armenia, Great Britain, Germany, United States, Mexico, Equator etc. All works, except those submitted for "Freestyle Font" nomination, conformed to the standards established by RA Government.
"It's very appreciable for us that Rowan Casto from Equator and Iko Miller from Germany submitted Armenian alphabet fonts. That testifies not only to interest in our alphabet and language but also increasing international recognition of 'Granshan' contest," Edik Gabuzyan said.
"Arial, Times and other fonts used currently cannot be considered Armenian as they are based upon the Latin alphabet. The contest marked the start of using the huge reserve of purely Armenian fonts," said one of contest winners Ara Baghdasaryan, Head of Graphic Art Chair at RA Academy of Arts.
To use Armenian fonts on the Internet, it is necessary to obtain consent from several international companies, with Microsoft being the first. Armenia is currently negotiating with the company, Edik Gabuzyan said.