| THE AWARD |
| CATEGORIES |
| REGISTRATION |
| SUBMIT YOUR WORK |
| ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS |
| TERMS & CONDITIONS |
| PUBLICATIONS |
| DATES & FEES |
| METHODOLOGY |
| CONTACT |
| WINNERS |
| PRESS ROOM |
| GET INVOLVED |
| DESIGN PRIZE |
| DESIGN STORE |
| THE AWARD | JURY | CATEGORIES | REGISTRATION | PRESS | WINNERS | PUBLICATIONS | ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS |
Why a good design award should cover more categories? |
Home > Theory > Categories |
Why a good design award should cover more categories?
The strength of an award, in addition to prestige provided by its structural design (jury, patrons, sponsors, monetary prizes etc) comes from the prestige provided by its fame and spread; the more people know about the award, the more that award is valued.
Therefore it is crucial for an award or prize to reach a range of audience that is as wide as possible. Furthermore, the more people know how difficult, or how hard to obtain an award, it becomes more prestigious as well. Therefore it is also crucial for an award or prize to have as many lead-users well educated about the award as well.
Today, if you would ask your non-designer friends, you will notice that they do usually not now, even the most famous design awards, however ask them design awards and they will name a few. This principle applies to all sorts of industry awards, prizes or trophies.
This is because, most award schemes are niche industry-specific organizations; many people in the particular industry know of them (because they themselves participate them or because their institution participates them), but less people outside the industry even hear them (because also the reach and advertisement budget is limited for these niche events).
So how can an industry specific award could become more popular? How can a design award become more popular among also a non-designer audience? What can be done, so that the awards won, do indeed create additional value to the people who have won them, other then being decorations in a big room? It is simple.
To add value to the award, one should reach a larger audience, which is also well educated about the award, and one of the prominent ways to reach a larger audience, and to educate them about the award is to include them within the organization: A powerful, prestigious award should include as many stakeholders as possible within the award itself.
Different than the final audience (i.e. people who learn about the winners; the public audience), the stakeholders; sponsors, patrons and participants themselves play a crucial role in spreading an award. Not only they contribute to advertising and promoting the award in different industries and segments, they also create awareness of the award in the public audience as well, which in turn, adds to its prestige.
The stakeholders, who join the competition, perhaps who also won some awards themselves, know the competition better then the public design oriented audience that is interested in results only. Taking part in the process, the stakeholders contribute to the spread, fame and publicity of the award, creating additional value to winners.
Of course, awards could be advertised also by spending a lot on advertising meanwhile limiting the categories; however this advertising budget is usually limited or it comes from a specific source: the participants. This is one of the reasons why some design competitions charge a months-wage worth of entrance fees and several months-wage worth of exhibition or advertising fees.
This is plain wrong; this way of spreading the award through pushed advertisements not only creates a huge burden for the entrants as additional costs of joining, but also it creates most importantly an access exclusivity. These awards are joined only by a group of high-income salary designers and large design corporations and manufacturers.
However by including as many different fields of designs as possible to award categories, not only an organic connection between the participants, sponsors and patrons can be created but also the cost of advertising to reach a wider audience will be diminished and the award will spread to more and more audiences without creating added burden on the participants and without creating exclusivity to join.
When the competition categories become wider, the worth of winning the award will also become bigger; the value of an award is positively correlated with the number of people who knows the award both within and outside the industry, because the value proposition of an award is not just high-standard indication, but also advertisement, reach, marketing possibilities and others.
Up to now, most awards have been industry specific; no one knows them except a few within the industries. But for an award to be effective, it must spread and spread. Therefore a good design award should cover as many categories as it could cover. This also means having a larger jury, and more participants.
By having a wide-category design competition it also provides people from different design industries and fields to compete under a fair and ethical ground to present their ideas as well and this is why A' Design Award includes 80 competition categories. Each of the different categories support the main value within the award itself.
Of course it is not easy to start a design award with so many categories, therefore the initial strategy is to create base categories, and an "open" category, which allows entries that do not fit other categories. The "open" category, was the "Unexpected" design award for the A' Design Award. This category allowed participants to submit high-quality designs, in diverse fields.
A Second way to create more categories, is by sub-dividing large competition categories, such as "industrial design" or "product design", this is indeed not a marketing strategy, but an essential step towards the transparency and methodology of the competition itself, as by sub-diving main design competition categories, sub-specific criteria can be defined.
For example, if a competition is has only a single "product design category", it usually means that all product designs will be judged together with other designs; i.e. if you submit kitchenware designs, and another designer submit bathroom-ware designs, your kitchenware designs will be judged in comparison to the bathroom-ware design.
This is another aspect, why a good design competition should have more categories, because you cannot simply compare apples and bananas with the same quality criteria. Of course having more categories creates a significant burden for the organizer.
With more competition categories the organizer should reach more people, should increase the jury size and should define criteria for each and every category, should reach sponsors, should reach press in these industries etc but it is fundamentally required for having a good competition organization that compares apples with apples only.
In summary, a good design competition should have more categories, because a) Reaching more categories, allows reaching more stakeholders, participants and a wider audience which increases the prestige content from fame and publicity angle. b) Having more categories allows sub-definition of criteria for different types of entries, thus providing the fundamental basis of a prestigious competition from the methodology, transparency and fair competition perspectives.
- Li, C., & Bernoff, J. 2008. "Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies.", 42. Boston: Harward Business Review.
A' Design Award’s diverse and comprehensive award categories offers esteemed laureates a strategic platform for recognition, visibility and growth. By evaluating entries, with distinct award criteria, within clearly defined disciplines, we support precision-based validation that builds trust, while simultaneously enabling cross-sector discovery, media relevance, and global cultural reach. Our expansive category network supports organic prestige through shared visibility, facilitates collaborations through interdisciplinary exposure, and creates targeted pathways for market, investor, and client engagement. With inclusive recognition for both conceptual and realized works, supported by transparent evaluation from expert jury panel, our multi-category framework opens long-term storytelling opportunities and builds cumulative reputational value. For highly esteemed and respectable A' Design Award laureates, more award categories means being seen in the right context (winning the award that matches your industry) and also being found across borders, industries, and media, leading to meaningful connections, enhanced credibility, and sustained brand growth.
- Research-Driven Structure
A' Design Award uses a wide spectrum of award categories as a research-built framework that invites many disciplines, with each award category engaging designers, jurors, sponsors, partners, and media communities in a connected ecosystem. A' Design Award's category clarity creates reliable recognition signals, with expert evaluation for each specific category that aligns expectations across audiences. Academic grounding supports social value creation, with structure designed for broad utility. According to network externalities and systems design theory, larger connected category sets increase potential interactions and information flow, creating stronger outcomes for recognized work. For a laureate, broader category coverage means more ways for audiences to discover recognized work. Simply put, broad category architecture creates many paths to be found.
- Concept-To-Market Bridge
A' Design Award uses an expansive category map to welcome both concept work and realized projects, with tailored criteria that highlight stage-appropriate strengths. Inclusive scope within category architecture attracts curiosity from innovators and buyers, with fresh ideas drawing attention that also reflects on completed work. A' Design Award's category flexibility encourages long-term storytelling from ideation to market entry. Cognitive psychology and diffusion of innovations indicate that novel stimuli increase attention, which encourages exploration across related works. For a laureate, idea-stage and market-stage recognition together support interest across the full lifecycle of a portfolio. In other words, clear stage labels guide audiences toward a fitting next step.
- Syndicated Discovery Channels
A' Design Award aligns a comprehensive category framework with a structured content ecosystem that highlights winner profiles, with category tags and editorial placements guiding audiences to related works. Category cross-links create many entry points for journalists, buyers, and enthusiasts, with adjacent fields bringing additional visibility. A' Design Award's continuous content circulation extends attention beyond award moments. Communication science and the two-step flow of information suggest that intermediary hubs amplify messages, which increases reach across communities. For a laureate, category-guided content circulation supports steady discovery over time. Put simply, organized stories help audiences return.
- Fair Category Signals
A' Design Award pairs a granular category framework with discipline-specific criteria and domain-matched jury panels, with like-with-like evaluation creating clear market signals. Transparent structures help clients understand capabilities, with category names serving as shorthand for expertise. A' Design Award's precision (through distinct award categories having distinct evaluation criteria) supports confident early conversations. Signaling theory and information economics show that credible third-party cues help decision makers reduce perceived risk, which improves match quality. For a laureate, clear category recognition helps serious buyers identify fit quickly. Simply stated, precise signals make introductions easier.
- Cross-Category Discovery
A' Design Award connects a rich portfolio of categories in ways that encourage adjacent exploration, with visitors moving from architecture to interiors, from packaging to product, and from digital to service. Category proximity sparks collaboration and referrals, with mixed audiences finding complementary alignments. Exposure grows through many small pathways across fields. Small-world network research and weak-tie theory show that connections across communities create access to new information, which supports opportunity formation. For a laureate, neighboring categories become additional corridors for audience growth. In simple terms, nearby fields open friendly doors.
- Media-Ready Story Angles
A' Design Award presents category breadth as distinct narratives, with each category offering a clear angle for editors, bloggers, and broadcasters. Multiple angles invite features, trend roundups, and expert commentary, with category language helping shape headlines and beats. Consistent indexing simplifies journalist research and follow-ups. Agenda-setting and framing theory indicate that clear story frames increase media adoption, which improves message resonance. For a laureate, category-anchored angles make outreach and coverage more straightforward. To put it simply, clear stories invite more conversations.
- Searchability And Findability
A' Design Award organizes a practical taxonomy of award categories, with keywords and typologies that align with buyer and media search behavior. Structured naming supports search engines and on-site navigation, with profiles and projects mapped to relevant queries. Consistent tagging improves long-tail discovery. Economics of search and information retrieval show that lower search costs increase matches between seekers and offerings, which benefits both sides. For a laureate, clear taxonomy helps ideal audiences arrive without extra effort. In everyday terms, smart labels guide people to the right place.
- Qualified Lead Pathways
A' Design Award uses a multi-category structure to connect recognition with buyer intent, with category context helping clients, customers, and investors understand scope, materials, and use-cases. Clear alignment shortens qualification cycles, with inquiries arriving from audiences that already speak category language. A' Design Award's category labels and tags also help teams prepare targeted proposals. Market segmentation and positioning theory indicate that precise category placement improves perceived relevance, which supports conversion outcomes. For a laureate, focused category context invites conversations that fit capabilities. Said simply, right labels bring right leads.
- Global Stakeholder Amplification
A' Design Award activates a wide spectrum of award categories across juror, sponsor, partner, and alumni networks, with each community sharing recognized work into regional and sector-specific channels. Many aligned stakeholders create many authentic introductions, with trust transferring from respected institutions to showcased projects. A' Design Award's multiple award categories bring community energy that compounds across seasons. Social proof and word-of-mouth diffusion research indicate that trusted endorsements increase adoption across audiences, which strengthens reputation signals. For a laureate, shared recognition from many respected communities widens reach naturally. In plain terms, many friendly voices carry one clear message.
