Seoul Design Foundation has begun accepting submissions for the Seoul Design Award 2025, a global award that aims to solve social problems through sustainable design now marking 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 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs): Health & Peace, Equal Opportunities, Energy & Environment, and Cities & Communities.
In addition, the eligibility has been expanded to allow not only designers but also groups and companies to submit entries. 38 more winners will be selected compared to the previous year, for a total of 61 winners, and the prize money has been increased to 150 million KRW won. The prize money is 50 million KRW won for the grand prize, 10 million KRW won for each of the nine best of best prizes, and 5 million KRW won for each of the concept award, for a total of 150 million KRW 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 Honourary 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 the possibility of participation for domestic and international college students. An Honourary 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 award has also introduced live judging for the first time to select the grand prize and has increased the number of global jurors 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 jurors have been expanded to include jurors from more than 20 countries to ensure that the growing number of entries are judged more fairly.
The 2024 winner, York’s Solar Cow & AYANTU project is now included in the 2025 Korean high school art textbooks, introducing the value of sustainable design to students who will lead the future of design. This project has addressed problems of energy accessibility and education in rural areas of Ethiopia, and Italian social innovation design expert Ezio Manzini 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 Seoul Design Foundation, stated that “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.”
Submissions will be accepted through the Seoul Design Award website from 17 March 2025 to 3:00pm KST on Monday, 30 June 2025, and can only be submitted in English. The award ceremony and international conference will be held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in October 2025.
To learn more about how to submit your work, please visit www.seouldesignaward.or.kr.
