FAQ Entry #389

This is a respond to a previously asked question about the A' Design Award and Competition. The full list of frequently asked questions can be accessed here.

#389: I noticed there are nominations...This is a concern because if it is dependent on how popular- how many likes you get from public - how can a single person compete against large design firms who can draw on a good response from great audiences?

You are very confused about the nomination procedure please have a look at our methodology to understand it better; the competition has two phases, first phase the preliminary round, where you register and upload your design and get a score, this round is indeed free of charge to participate without any obligations to nominate a design (everyone nominates their own work and there is no public voting); when you upload a design we consider it as a submission but not a nomination. The second phase is nomination, that is when you pay the entry fee and state that you wish your entry to be voted by the grand jury. The entries are voted by a jury of design experts, press members and academics not by random people as in other awards, we do not ask any participant to beg for votes from their awards, ours is not a competition of fame but of design merit, and to ensure fair evaluation we have several mechanisms in effect most importantly we make sure that jury does not know whose work they are voting for; the process is anonymous but also there are set evaluation criteria as well as a process and voting agreement that jury has to follow, so rest assured that your work will be voted on equal grands with the large firms that participate to A' Design Award.

Keywords: nomination, public voting, popularity contest, public nominations, fairness, ethics

The following questions could be related:

• #10: When is the last date of submissions for the A' Design Awards & Competitions?
• #36: Can I apply with the same design to multiple competitions?
• #75: click here.'>As I have read on your homepage I can nominate already realized, manufactured works as well as concept stage works to the A'Design Awards. Is it right? Because I have read in the Terms and Conditions some other info.
• #133: Could you please explain further what Early, Standard and Late Application period means?
• #139: Can I pay my nomination fee with a bank draft?
• #146: If I upload a design, do I have to make any payments? If I do not nominate a design, will there be a fee for entering this contest?
• #147: If I do not nominate my design to any award categories, will my design be judged?
• #148: Can I submit many different designs for the Furniture Design Award as a single entry?
• #178: Our company would like to take part in this years competition. In order to catch the early registration deadline, may I know if we need to complete the entire submission process before the early registration deadline, or we just need to pay before that date and can still edit the submission afterwards?
• #202: I have nominated my entry by paying with Wiretransfer, but it still shows as PENDING CONFIRMATION for the status, how many days does it take for my transaction to be approved?
• #210: My credit card will not be accepted when I try to pay the nomination fee?
• #224: I would like to check if I can pay via credit card to purchase the nomination ticket for the early-bird period now, and then submit the design work later?
• #225: What is a Nomination Ticket?
• #230: If I exit out of the entry after saving changes, will I loose all the sections I have filled out if I do not pay before logging out.
• #231: Is the nomination fee per image or per entry?
• #234: I see from the calendar that the next edition costs less, can I submit for the next edition to have a discounted entry?
• #235: What is the difference between submission and nomination?
• #241: Is it possible to register the same project to more than one category?
• #248: I am interested in applying for the design awards, am I right in thinking that there are no fees for submitting work? Also are there any fees thereafter, for example for getting shortlisted?
• #249: How do I nominate my design?
• #254: I do not know why I could not pay for my submission. I have successfully nominated three of my other projects. Could you please tell me if there is something wrong with the payment system or if you could suggest other ways of payment?
• #255: It is too difficult to submit entries to the design award, there are too many submission requirements and it is too bureaucratic to enter and nominate works. Is there an easy way to do join?
• #258: Do I nominate myself and my own work, or do I need to get another member to do it?
• #260: I would like to know whether Late Application makes any difference in the Award process.
• #268: I like to participate with a project but I am confused about nomination prices. Could you give me the price of participation? If you win an award, how much it cost when you have won it?
• #269: I was not able to nominate my design with the nomination tickets, the status is shown as failed or pending-confirmation. Why is my nomination ticket not accepted?
• #303: We would like to add our product to you award competition. However, it is not entirely clear how much we would have to pay in fees for this - could you please clarify.
• #307: Please let us know what are the requirement to enter for the competition, do we need to pay anything?
• #312: Can I upload different design works to participate different design competition categories with one account, how to operate?
• #313: I did not understand if it is possible for us, to nominate more than one project in the same category or different categories, if is possible?
• #318: Do we have to nominate each project that we upload to the system. I mean that can we decide to nominate our projects according to the preliminary checks?
• #325: After nominating our works do we have to do anything else or we are just waiting for the results?
• #326: Can we know the final fee before nominating each work?
• #327: Are we obligated to pay the fees after we see the final price by uploading our work and receiving a preliminary score but decide not to participate?
• #332: If I do not complete any nomination will that mean my project will not be a part of this design competition?
• #333: I am planning to nominate the same design to multiple categories by making two nominations, how should I prepare the presentation? Can I use the same presentation for both?
• #339: Is there a possibility to submit three different models of the same design in one only ID#. How do you recommend me to do it? Is there a possibility to still submit three main images and four optional images for each of them? Other ways I would only submit one because the optional ones are important to understand the object. Can i submit as well one sketch drawing in each group?
• #346: Why the nomination fees differentiate based on entry period.
• #347: Would you tell me what are the differences between all the types of nominations? Will that affect the evaluation, or is about something else?
• #360: If we choose to get a preliminary evaluation for our design by uploading or work, is it obligatory to nominate the projects later or can we decide and pay the nomination after known the score?
• #365: Is it possible to proceed with an entry and win an award without going through the nomination stage?
• #366: I would like to know if the nomination procedure is compulsory for each design entry?
• #367: We designed a building and we did both interior design and architecture, which category shall we join?
• #374: I would like to know if I can upload more than one project.
• #376: If we apply a project as a group of two (2) people, in this case which is the fee due for nomination?
• #377: I have had a read through your guidelines and will be applying for the preliminary stage very soon - just one thing, I see no mention or address for submitting on actual product, prototype or sample. Is a product or prototype submission required?
• #378: Which is the next stop if our design has passed the preliminary test? Do I have to nominate my design, how can i do it? which is the deadline?
• #379: Could you please inform me that how many different projects can I submit in the same year? Additionally, can I submit a project which won a different Design Award prize?
• #382: I an planning to attend the competition, but still I have a doubt. Do I have to send to A'Design Award & Competition the real product, or just the images and texts?
• #386: I thought, I could take part at the promo. I compared the ticket-prices and I am lost. With promo it is X Euro, normal price is also X Euro what am I missing? I have a preliminary score of 9 and would like to buy a pro nomination ticket.
• #392: When should we decide which type of nomination do we want, before the submission or after the preliminary checking?
• #396: Can I submit my design into many categories? If yes how do I do that?
• #398: After nominating my work and paying for the nomination, it possible for me to win the prize？
• #402: I have submitted my work and now I have a preliminary score. I would like to know when I have to finish nomination of my project in order to have my work considered for the design award.
• #431: I have just become aware of your awards and wish to enter - most likely in a specialized category. Am I correct in saying the next time this will be awarded is in next year?
• #432: If I nominate a design can I still edit it?
• #442: I recently nominated my design so that I could take advantage of the early nomination fee. I am now a little worried as my submission needs a lot of work and I will be unable to make it perfect for the next few months as my photographer is away. How long do I have to make the required changes to my design please?. As I would like to make it perfect before final judgement. Also will my submission compromised as I nominated the design too early or is it only fully judged at a later date?
• #449: Do I need to upload Design Interview and Designer Interview when making a submission? Do these refer to designer profile?
• #450: If the winner design is in a concealed category, will these works be displayed in the award ceremony in the screen or stage?
• #452: I would like to ask if the nomination fee is assigned for several projects by participants or for one selected project?
• #453: Is there any fee for submitting our concept designs and nominating our design concepts for competition?
• #481: I have a nomination ticket that I haven’t used and when I go through the steps to pay and use the nominated ticket there is still a fee shown, how can that be?
• #512: I got an email from A’ Design Award that my work is nominated for an award and that I have to pay money, but I did not apply, is it true?
• #533: The A' Design Prize is too big, why is the submission is free and nomination fee is so low?

If you did not find your answer, please feel free to check the faq pages for more questions and answers. You will also want to check our webpage for details; thanks to our transparency policy, we document and publish everything.