Competition Rules
Summary of rules
How?
The main factors are the creativity and originality of your design. It’s good to have an innovative and original approach to the solution, but it’s also about functionality and use of materials. Take into account that the sustainability of your design may also play a role in the jury’s decision making.
How many?
There is no limit to the number of entries you can send us. Your work is not limited by any theme, feel free to submit anything you find in your drawer at home. Applications are also completely free.
Who?
You can apply as part of a team or alone, whether you’re a student, aspiring designer or design enthusiast. There are no restrictions on the competition. The only requirement is age – you can’t be over 30.
What?
In order for us to accept your competition proposal, you must send us a fully completed application. In addition to the completed web form, the attachments must include a photograph of the proposal and a poster according to the rules. However, your work must not be older than 2 years, i.e. older than 1 January 2023!
Competition dates
2. 12. 2024 – Start of the competition
Apply now, you could be the winner!
2. 2. 2025 – Application deadline
Last chance to submit your work.
March 2025 – Jury meeting
The evaluation of the competition entries will take place in the first quarter of 2025.
10. 05. 2025 – Announcement of awards at the gala evening
On this day, we will all meet in Zlin for the awards ceremony and find out the winners of this year’s edition!
Competition categories
Product & Industrial Design
Design of products, interior, furniture, tools, equipment and more
Fashion Design
Design of clothing, textiles, footwear, haberdashery, jewellery and more
Communication Design
Graphic design, illustration, new media, visual communication, intermedia, web animation and more
Service Design
Complex designs of processes, technologies and interactions that drive provision of services and more
Media Award
The title of the bonus Media Award category is awarded to one of the semi-finalists of the competition. The winner is proposed by a special jury of this category – representatives of media closely connected with design.
Awards
Main prize
For the best of the best across all four categories, we have the Best in Design 2025 title! The winner of the title will take home an EXTRA €1,000, along with the prize for winning one of the categories.
1st place in each competition category → 500 €
2nd place in each competition category → 300 €
3rd place in each competition category → 200 €
Media Award
The selected designer will receive media support for their work.
Complete rules of Best in Design contest
BEST IN DESIGN 2025
16th year of the international design competition
Zlin Design Week, under the auspices of the Tomas Bata University in Zlin, announces a non-anonymous public competition.
COMPETITION PROPOSAL
In the past, the city of Zlin represented a world leader in the field of industrial design and innovative technologies. It is impossible to overlook the giants in their field such as Professor Zdeněk Kovář or Professor Vincenc Makovský. Realized designs by Zlín designers have won many prestigious local and foreign awards. We are aware of this binding legacy of our past and tradition. We also realize how important role quality and creative design currently plays. We want to ideologically build on experts from the past while supporting the designers of the future, young design talents. In order to do so, Zlin Design Week announces this international award for young design, BEST IN DESIGN.
1. SUBJECT OF THE COMPETITION
1.1. Subject
The purpose of the competition is to recognize exceptional work in the field of design. Competition proposals will be evaluated in the following categories:
→ Product & Industrial Design – product design, interior and furniture design, tool and machine design, transport design, etc.
→ Fashion Design – clothing design, textile design, footwear and haberdashery design, jewelry design, etc.
→ Communication Design – graphic design and illustration, new media design, visual communication and intermedia design, web animations, etc.
→ Service Design – complex designs of processes, technologies and interactions that drive the provision of services, etc.
The bonus category in which the competition proposals will be evaluated is the Media Award (media category). The title of this category is awarded to one of the semifinalists of the competition. The winner is proposed by a special jury for this category – representatives of the media closely associated with design.
1.2. Competition participants
Natural persons who have reached the age of 30 or younger by 2 February 2025 can participate in the competition. Individuals and author collectives can participate in the competition. If an author collective enters the competition, in which only one of the authors is 30 years old or younger, the entire proposal must be entered under their name. This entire team should be mentioned by the author, under whose name the competition proposal falls, in the notes of the web form. There is no fee to enter the competition.
1.3. Announcement of the competition
The competition will be publicly announced by the press release, publication on website, social media and other appropriate means.
1.4. Announcement of competition results
The organizer will announce the result of the competition publicly at the Best in Design 2025 gala ceremony, on website and also on social media.
1.5. Competition proposals
Only designs created after January 1, 2023, which have not participated in previous years of the competition, can be entered into the competition.
The finalists of all competition categories and the winner of the Media Award bonus category exhibit their products as part of the Zlin Design Week festival, based on an agreement with the organizer.
2. COMPETITION DATES
2.1. Date of the announcement of the competition
The date of the announcement of the competition is December 2, 2024.
2.2. Date of submission of competition proposals – competition deadline
The final date for submission of competition proposals is set at 11:59 PM on February 2, 2025.
2.3. Date of the evaluation meeting of the competition jury
The date of the meeting of the competition jury to evaluate the competition proposals is set for the first quarter of 2025.
2.4. Date of the announcement of the competition results
The results of the competition will be announced at the Best in Design gala ceremony as part of the Zlin Design Week festival. The announcement will take place in May 10, 2025, but the conditions may change depending on the current situation. In the event of a change, competitors will be informed ahead of time.
2.5. Deadline for redemption of prizes in the competition
The deadline for payment of financial prizes is set for a period of two months from the public announcement of the competition results.
3. COMPETITION PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
3.1. Acceptable methods of submission of competition proposals
Competition proposals can only be submitted electronically via the form on the website.
3.2. Electronic submission of the competition proposal by a person other than the author
If the competition proposal is submitted by a person other than the author themselves (e.g. a teacher, etc.), the contact for the author, then the teacher, is indicated in the application.
4. REQUIRED MANDATORY PARTS OF THE COMPETITION APPLICATION, THEIR CONTENT, MANDATORY GRAPHICS
4.1. General requirements of the competition application
Each competition application consists of two parts: the web form and the attachments. Competition proposals that do not meet all the mentioned parts as described below will not be included in the competition.
4.2. Web form
Each of the competitors must fill out an electronic form for the competition, which is published on the website.
4.3. Attachments
Each competition proposal contains two correctly named attachments:
→ Presentation poster in .pdf format (CMYK, 300 dpi quality)
- The format of the correct naming of the poster looks like this: Name and surname_name of project_poster.pdf
- The template for John Smith and his work called “My Design” looks like this: John Smith_My Design_poster.pdf
→ Representative photograph of the competition design in .jpg format (300 dpi quality, minimum size of 1920 x 1080 px)
- The maximum number of these photographs is five
- The format of the correct naming of the material looks like this: Name and surname_name of project_photo1(2;3;4;5).jpg
- The template for John Smith and his work called “My Design” looks like this: John Smith_My Design_photo1(2;3;4;5).jpg
There is also an option to insert a link to a Drive in the web form. If the author wishes to present an animation or a short video for their project, it is possible. This link will only serve as a supporting file for the presentation of the given project.
5. COMMON PROVISIONS ON THE BINDING REQUIREMENTS OF THE COMPETITION PROPOSAL
5.1. Mandatory parts of the proposal
Competitors note that all competition proposals that do not meet the prescribed formal conditions contained in the competition rules are obliged to be required from proper evaluation by the competition secretary. The secretary of the competition will also exclude from the assessment those parts of the competition proposal that were not required by the conditions.
6. EVALUATION CRITERIA
6.1. Mandatory evaluation criteria
The binding criteria according to which the competition proposals will be evaluated by the jury are set as follows:
- author’s creativity and extraordinariness of the submission,
- innovative and original approach of the chosen solution,
- implementation with regard to the choice of materials used, the functionality and the ergonomics,
- comprehensive quality of the competition design, including execution,
- ecological side of the proposed solution, support for sustainable development.
The jury reserves the right to reject projects that, due to their insufficient quality, do not correspond to the required level of the competition.
7. JURY
7.1. Jury members
The composition of the expert jury will be published on the website and social media by the end of January 2025.
7.2. Jury decision making and protocol
The jury decides by the majority of votes of the jurors present. The jurors have the right to invite expert consultants from the given field with an advisory voice without voting rights for the purpose of the decision. Before the evaluation itself, the jury elects the chairman and further appoints the secretary of the competition. A transcript of the jury meeting will be taken by a person authorized by the chairman of the jury, the correctness of which will be verified by the signature of the chairman or presiding officer and confirmed by the person taking the notes. Different opinions of members of the competition jury will also be recorded in the record of the course of the competition, if these members expressly request it.
8. COMPETITION AWARDS
8.1. Financial rewards for winning proposals
→ The author of the competition proposal, which wins the 1st place in the individual competition category, will receive a financial reward of EUR 500 (five hundred euros).
→ The author of the competition proposal, which wins the 2nd place in the individual competition category, will receive a financial reward of EUR 300 (three hundred euros).
→ The author of the competition proposal, which wins the 3rd place in the individual competition category, will receive a financial reward of EUR 200 (two hundred euros).
8.2. Best in Design Award
The jury will award the title “Best in Design 2025” to the author/collective of authors of the best evaluated competition design. A financial reward of EUR 1,000 (one thousand euros) is associated with this evaluation.
8.3. Special prizes and honorable mentions in the competition
The jury reserves the right to award a special prize in the Best in Design competition. The jury can also award selected competition proposals with honorable mentions.
9. CLAUSE ON ACCEPTANCE OF COMPETITION TERMS
9.1. Competitors’ consent to the terms of the competition
By submitting the application and competition proposals, the contestants express their agreement with all the conditions of the competition as a contract and with the decisions of the competition jury. The jury’s decision is final and may not be appealed or subject to judicial review.
10. COPYRIGHT CLAUSE AND DISCLOSURE OF CONTEST PROPOSALS
10.1. Competitors’ copyright
By submitting the competition proposals, the contestants give the organizer consent to the free use of the competition work for exhibition and publication purposes, to the publication of the competition work on the Internet and to the publication of the contact in accordance with Act no. 106/1999 Coll., on free access to information, as amended.
10.2. Permission to use the author’s work for the purposes of this competition
The authors of the competition proposals grant the publisher permission to use their author’s works for the purposes of presenting the competition for an unlimited period of time.
The copyrights of the contestants are not affected in any way.
11. CONTEST ANNOUNCER
The announcer of the competition is Zlin Design Week under the auspices of the Tomas Bata University in Zlin, located in Zlin, Univerzitní 2431, zip code: 760 01.
2. 12. 2024 in Zlin
For more information, please contact the director of the competition, Eliška Janečková. E-mail: eliska.janeckova@zlindesignweek.com
