The Seoul Design Foundation (CEO Kanghui Cha) will begin accepting submissions for the Seoul Design Award 2025 on Monday, March 17. The Seoul Design Award is the only global award in the world that solves social problems through sustainable design, and this year marks its sixth year. Since the first award was held in 2019, 75 projects were submitted, and in 2024, 575 projects from 65 countries were submitted, showing a 7.6-fold increase in just five years.
This year’s award has been organized into four categories to reflect the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, the eligibility has been expanded to allow not only designers but also groups and companies to submit entries, so that more projects can be discovered. In particular, 38 more winners have been selected compared to the previous year, for a total of 61 winners, and the prize money has been increased to 150 million won. The submission categories are divided into four categories: Health & Peace, Equal Opportunities, Energy & Environment, and Cities & Communities, in accordance with the UN’s SDGs. The prize money is 50 million won for the grand prize, 10 million won for each of the nine best of best prizes, and 5 million won for each of the concept award, for a total of 150 million won.
Compared to 19 main prizes and 4 research prizes in 2024, this year, 38 additional prize opportunities have been added. A total of 61 awards will be given, including 40 for the Main Award(Grand Prize, Best of the Best, and Finalist), 20 for the Concept Award (Best of the Best, Finalist), and one for the Honorary Award. Among the categories for submission, the Main Award is for projects or products that have been launched and have users, and the Concept Award is for design projects that have not yet been realized, such as design mockups, prototypes, and plans, opening up the possibility of participation for domestic and international college students. An Honorary prize for innovative contributions to international design for a sustainable future and two special prizes for contributions to cooperation with other organizations and companies will also be awarded separately.
The Seoul Design Award, which is celebrating its sixth year this year, has introduced live judging for the first time to select the grand prize, and has increased the number of global juries from 13 to 32 to ensure fair judging of the increasing number of entries each year. To enhance the fairness of the award, the method of selecting the winners has been changed from the previous method of selecting the final winners before the award ceremony to the method of having the 10 finalists present their work on-site and the juries and citizens select the grand prize winner live. In addition, the juries have been expanded to include juries from more than 20 countries to ensure that the growing number of entries are judged more fairly.
The deadline for submissions to the Seoul Design Award is the end of June. The award ceremony and international conference will be held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in October. Submissions will be accepted through the Seoul Design Award website (www.seouldesign.or.kr) from March 17 to 3:00 p.m(KST). on Monday, June 30, and can only be submitted in English.
For reference, the 2024 winner, York (CEO Jang Sung-eun) ‘s <Solar Cow & AYANTU> project is included in the 2025 Korean high school art textbook, introducing the value of sustainable design to students who will lead the future of design. This project has solved the problems of energy accessibility and education in rural areas of Ethiopia, and Italian social innovation design expert Ezio Mancini has described the project as a “creative and effective energy supply system.” In addition, the coffee brand AYANTU, launched to ensure the project’s continued operation, reinvests 10% of its profits in the installation of Solar Cow, providing visitors with the opportunity to experience and contribute directly.
Kangheui Cha, CEO of the Seoul Design Foundation, said, “The Seoul Design Award is a place to select and award projects that present ways to harmoniously coexist with people, society, the environment, and nature through creative design,” and “We will continue to discover innovative projects and designers.”
C O N T A C T
E: seouldesignaward@seouldesign.or.kr
E: ihbae@seouldesign.or.kr
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