CW Award Information

Complex Weavers is pleased to present an Award to be given for excellence in complex weaving. We encourage interest in and sharing of information on complex weaving by acknowledging and publicizing excellent work done by talented individuals in areas of complex interlacements. What better way to do this than to present a certificate of merit and a special ribbon at juried shows and exhibits featuring hand-woven items!

The Complex Weavers Award focuses on excellence in weaving a piece that is original in both design and execution, using a threading draft or structure that achieves a complex interlacement of threads and fibers beyond plain weave.  Workshop samples, kits, pieces woven under supervision or taken directly from published works are not eligible for the Award. There is no requirement that the pieces must be woven on a designated number of shafts or on a multi-shaft loom. Please note that at this time we have no provision for an ‘Honorable Mention’ in conjunction with our Complex Weavers Award.

See galleries of Award-winning pieces from 2003 – 2020 here.

The Award winner will receive a one year membership (new or renewal) in Complex Weavers. Each award also comes with a certificate and a cherished ribbon featuring the Complex Weavers logo woven by Lillian Whipple. The streamers for the 2020 and 2021 award were woven by Agnes Hauptli of New Zealand.

In return, CW asks for a description of the piece and a high resolution jpeg or tiff, slide and/or photograph that may be used in the Complex Weavers Journal and any future CWJ compilations or composite CW publications, on the website, for publicity, and archived by CW.  It may also be the case that we would ask for an additional short article for the CW Journal.  None of these are requirements for the Award, however.

Any juried show or weaving exhibit may request an Award packet from Complex Weavers with the following information:

  • Contact name and email address
  • Name of show
  • Sponsoring organization
  • Date(s) of show
  • Show frequency (annual, biennial, irregular)
  • Location of show (town, state/province, country)
  • Name of juror(s)
  • Mailing address of a conference official to send the award packet

Once the above information is provided, the conference contact will receive, via email, a page of instructions for the juror and show officials, a letter for the recipient and two forms for the recipient to fill out.  About one month before the show, the conference official will receive a packet containing the ribbon and certificate for the winner. Please make sure you apply for the Award in plenty of time to allow us to get your Award packet to you!

For more information, contact the Complex Weavers Awards Coordinator.