Perhaps our heads were in the sand for this announcement, but the winners of the 2007 Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing and Criticism have been announced and we’ve just got to rave a bit. Jade Chang, West Coast editor for Metropolis, has won the grand $5K prize; and the not-too-shabby $1K educational award goes to Erica Nooney, who just embarked upon a Ph.D in cultural studies at SUNY Stony Brook. Winterhouse’s William Drenttel chaired the panel of judges–which included Allison Arieff, Melissa Harris and Bruce Sterling–and had this to say about the 2007 winners:

The jury was impressed with the energy of the writing–and the range of approaches to design and approaches to writing. Furthermore, we were surprised by the technical quality of the writing, the maturity of prose and style in so many of the entries. The recipients, Jade and Erica, were selected unequivocally by this year’s panel, and we feel that both of these young writers hold great promise to grow as essayists and critics.

The winners will be honored at the Design Legends Gala next week.