Past contests

2024 - Vienna, Austria (website)

2023 - Palermo, Italy (website)

2022 - Tokyo, Japan (hybrid) (website)

2021 - Tübingen, Germany (hybrid) (website)

2020 - Vancouver, Canada (online) (website)

2019 - Prague, Czech Republic (website)

2018 - Barcelona, Spain (website)

2017 - Boston, MA, USA (website)

2016 - Athens, Greece (website)

2015 - Los Angeles, CA, USA (website)

2014 - Würzburg, Germany (website)

2013 - Bordeaux, France (website)

2012 - Redmond, WA, USA (website)

2011 - Eindhoven, The Netherlands (website)

2010 - Konstanz, Germany (website)

2009 - Chicago, IL, USA (website)

2008 - Crete, Greece (website)

2007 - Sydney, NSW, Australia

2006 - Karlsruhe, Germany (website)

2005 - Limerick, Ireland (website)

Beginning

Graph Drawing contests are annually held in conjunction with the Symposium of Graph Drawing since 1994. The original idea likely came from Peter Eades and Joe Marks, who were also the first contest organizers. The winners of the first contest received a book as award. Later, cash prices were established. In 2008, gold medals and trophies were awarded to the winners. The results of the contest were furthermore published in the proceedings of the Graph Drawing Symposium, with Springer LNCS.

Categories

Over the years, we had a variety of contest categories:

  • Contest graphs (1994 to 2006, since 2008)
  • On-site challenge (2004 to 2011, since 2013)
  • Free-style drawings (1998 to 2001, 2004 to 2007)
  • Video/interactive exploration (1997)
  • Incremental graph drawing (1998)
  • Interactive graph analysis (2002)
  • Game contest (2012)
  • Creative (2013)

Statistics

Graph Drawing, even though very important, is a subject for very few specialists in the field. Since the contest challenges the state of the art, it is no wonder that the number of submissions is usually not too large. Here is some statistics of the participation in the contest.

  • 1994: 4 contest graphs, only winners reported
  • 1995: 3 contest graphs, 40 submissions
  • 1996: 4 contest graphs, 35 graphs submitted
  • 1997: 3 contest graphs, 13 submissions
  • 1998: 4 contest graphs, 17 submissions
  • 1999: 4 contest graphs, 18 submissions
  • 2000: 4 contest graphs, 8 submissions
  • 2001: 4 contest graphs, 14 submissions
  • 2002: 2 contest graphs, 4 submissions
  • 2003: 2 contest graphs, 7 submissions
  • 2004: challenge + freestyle, 21 submissions
  • 2005: challenge + freestyle + evolving, 17 submissions
  • 2006: challenge + 4 categories, 20 submissions
  • 2007: challenge + free + socialNet, 10 submissions
  • 2008: challenge + 4 categories, 18 submissions
  • 2009: challenge + 4 categories, 27 submissions
  • 2010: challenge + 3 categories, 25 submissions
  • 2011: challenge + 3 categories, 30 submissions
  • 2012: game contest + 3 categories, 21 submissions
  • 2013: challenge + 3 categories, 12 submissions
  • 2014: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 24 submissions
  • 2015: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 25 submissions
  • 2016: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 15 submissions
  • 2017: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 12 submissions
  • 2018: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 44 submissions
  • 2019: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 29 submissions
  • 2020: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 29 submissions
  • 2021: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 25 submissions
  • 2022: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (2 categories), 28 submissions
  • 2023: live challenge (2 categories) + creative topics (1 category), 41 submissions

Past committee members

The contest has been a true community effort over the years, supported by many graph-drawing enthusiasts. They are listed below, along with the years of the contests they helped to organize.

  • Wouter Meulemans (2020-2024)

  • Tamara Mchedlidze (2019-2023)

  • William E. Devanny (2017-2018)

  • Philipp Kindermann (2015-2023)

  • Ignaz Rutter (2014-2019)

  • Maarten Löffler (2014-2018)

  • Lev Nachmanson (2014-2016)

  • Carsten Gutwenger (2008-2014)

  • Ugur Dogrusöz (2008)

  • Georg Sander (2006-2013)

  • Gunnar W. Klau (2006)

  • Dorothea Wagner (2005)

  • Christian A. Duncan (2004-2013)

  • Stephen G. Kobourov (2004-2007)

  • Emden R. Gansner (2004)

  • Therese C. Biedl (2001)

  • Ulrik Brandes (2000, 2003)

  • Marcus Raitner (2000)

  • Michael Himsolt (2000)

  • Franz-Josef Brandenburg (1999-2004)

  • Falk Schreiber (1999)

  • Michael Jünger (1999)

  • Petra Mutzel (1998-1999)

  • Stephen C. North (1996-1998)

  • Joe Marks (1994-1998, 2003)

  • Peter Eades (1994-1998, 2003)