The competition '100 Best Posters of the Year - Germany Austria Switzerland 2011', now held on an international scale for the eleventh time, has long since become an important institution in contemporary poster design that garners recognition far beyond the borders of Germany. This year, as in previous years, the Art Library will be presenting in conjunction with 100 Beste Plakate e.V. the results of the competition for the 100 best poster designs of the previous poster year.

This year, the jury was headed by Prof. Sascha Lobe (D), who was joined by Prof. Alex Jordan (D), Elisabeth Kopf (A), Giorgio Pesce (CH) and Thom Pfister (CH). Together, they sifted through 550 individual posters that had made it to the final round, finally whittling them down to 53 winners from Germany, 45 from Switzerland and 2 from Austria. One of the many things that make the competition so unique is that the posters are selected on account of their visual impact alone and stem from a broad array of contexts, with no preference given to one specific area. The first time the posters are separated according to category is during the presentation of the results. This year, 67 of the finalists were commissioned pieces, 9 self-initiated and 24 the result of student project assignments.

After the Berlin showing, the finalists will go on display in Nuremberg, Essen, Lucerne, Dornbirn and Vienna. The exhibition has been conceived by a team from the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (ABK Stuttgart). It is the sixth year in a row that the show is being held in conjunction with the National Museums in Berlin. Accompanying the show is a year book, also designed by students at ABK Stuttgart, containing illustrations of all 100 selected posters, as well as an essay on the theme of 'Black and White in the Sea of Colours' by Anita Kühnel (D), released by Hermann Schmidt Mainz and available in the exhibition itself and from book trade outlets.