About the Awards

Entry to the 2019 Interaction Awards is open to all companies, individuals and students until 26 September 2019 at 11:59pm Pacific Time (USA). Read more on how to prepare your submission.

To reflect the diversity of the global IxDA community and support fair and inclusive participation, entry fees are based on geography and professional status.

Once the call for entries has been closed, IxDA members participate in a private online peer review process to select the 2018 shortlist. Approximately 72 shortlisted projects (up to 12 per category) will be announced in late October 2019.

Shortlisted projects will be evaluated by an international Jury during an in-person weekend event this November; up to five finalists in each category will be announced thereafter. Finalists will receive one complimentary registration to the Interaction20 conference in Milan, Italy (2-8 February 2020), where the winners for each category will be announced. Finalists and winners receive one trophy per project.

Shortlisted entries, finalists and winners become a permanent part of the Interaction Design Awards Yearbook.

Connecting:  Facilitating communication between people and communities

Engaging:  Capturing attention, creating delight and delivering meaning

Empowering:  Enabling people to go beyond their limits

Expressing:  Encouraging self expression and/or creativity

Disrupting:  Re-imagining completely an existing product or service by creating new behaviors, usages or markets

Optimizing:  Making daily activities more efficient

See past award winners for projects recognized in each of these categories.

Up to 30 finalist winners (a maximum of five in each category) are awarded a trophy and receive one free registration for the Interaction20 conference in Milan, Italy (2-8 February 2020).

All shortlisted entries will be included in the Interaction Design Awards Yearbook, an annual snapshot of the state of Interaction Design around the world.

To enter, you’ll need:

Information about you and/or your team
Who you are, where you live/work/study, and how we can contact you (email, postal address, telephone).

A video with information about your project
Create a video, up to 4 minutes in length, answering these four questions:

• What opportunity was the project addressing?
• Who were you designing for?
• What was the impact?
• What was the project’s design process?

A photo representing your project
A print-quality image that illustrates your project and, if possible, the impact of your work.

Rationale for submitting within a particular category
Written description of why you believe the project is an exemplar within the chosen category.

If your project is shortlisted (Not required for initial submission)
If your project is shortlisted, you will have the opportunity to update your entry and submit additional materials for the Jury to consider. These materials will be used for things such as the Interaction Design Yearbook and display at the Interaction20 conference.

Entry fees are per project, per category submitted.

To reflect the diversity of the global IxDA community and support fair and inclusive participation, the entry fee for your project corresponds to your geography and professional/student status The fee structure was guided by the widely accepted International Monetary Fund classification. Payment per entry is submitted via credit card and signature debit card.

REGION 1

Students: Each project may be entered in one category for free.

• Early bird: $35 for each subsequent category until 31 August 2019
• Regular: $50 for each subsequent category from 1-26 September 2019
• Late: $75 for each subsequent category after 26 September 2019

Professionals:

• Early bird: $175 for each category until 31 August 2019
• Regular: $200 for each category from 1-26 September 2019
• Late: $225 for each subsequent category after 26 September 2019

REGION 2

Students: Each project may be entered in one category for free.

• Early bird: $15 for each subsequent category until 31 August 2019
• Regular: $20 for each subsequent category from 1-26 September 2019
• Late: $35 for each subsequent category after 26 September 2019

Professionals: Each project may be entered in one category for free.

• Early bird: $80 for each subsequent category until 31 August 2019
• Regular: $100 for each subsequent category from 1–26 September 2019
• Late: $120 for each subsequent category after 26 September 2019

See which region you live in.

Round One: Peer Review for Shortlist

An international body of peer reviewers from the IxDA community will evaluate all submissions. Each entry will receive at least three individual reviews culminating in a shortlist of approximately 12 top-rated entries per category. These entries will be recognized within the Interaction Design Yearbook and showcased online by December 2019. Sign up to participate in the peer review.

Round Two: Jury Review for Finalists

Shortlisted entries will have the opportunity to submit additional information before being evaluated at an on-site jury event in October 2019. The jury will select approximately 30 finalist winners (up to 5 per category), who will be notified by email, also in November 2019. All finalist winners will be given one conference registration for the Interaction20 Conference, where the Best in Category (all six), Best Student, People’s Choice and Best in Show award winners will be announced and celebrated on 7 February 2020. All finalist and winning entries will receive a trophy.

Reflecting the broad spectrum of Interaction Design, we have created categories that speak to the nature of the interactions as opposed to the forms that they take. Platforms, domains, and professional status will help the jury to understand the context of the work better, but the ultimate decision is based on the quality of work and the design sensibility of the peer reviewers and the Jury. That’s why we worked hard to find tough, fair and discerning professionals as judges.

Each project is evaluated along the four dimensions below. Judges will be looking for how well a project met its objectives for the people who need or use it most, as well as the craft and impact related to achieving its objectives.

Opportunity: Looking at the driving force behind the project, what challenge or opportunity is the project addressing? Is the intent clear and well-founded?

Audience: How well did the project team understand the people most impacted by the project – its intended audience – and design for that audience? In what contexts is this product or service at play?

Impact: How well did the project deliver on its intended impact, against the challenge at hand (opportunity addressed), the audience (needs & behavior addressed), and the business (profit, cost, brand)?

Craft: How well did the project team employ and convey their design process? How well did the final project demonstrate its elegance in language, functionality, and use, as it supports human interaction? How well does the final project demonstrate attention to detail, fit and finish, and how the chosen medium serves the purpose and goals of the design?

1. You must be at least 18 years of age.
2. Your work must be original, and you must have the right or authority to submit it for review and have it published.
3. If you enter student work, you must be able to prove student status between July 2017 and September 2019.
4. You must be a member of the IxDA community. You can create an account on our Discussion list at IxDA.org for free at any time.
5. All entries must be received by 26 September 2019, at 11:59 PM PDT.
6. All entries must be in English (English subtitles welcome, where applicable)
7. Read and accept the Interaction Awards Terms & Conditions.
8. All eligible projects must have been completed between July 2017 and September 2019:
   • Submitted professional projects and student projects must have been completed between July 2017 and September 2019.
   • Concept projects must have been finalized between July 2017 and September 2019 and must not be scheduled for production until November 2018 (after the Interaction Awards evaluation period ends).

Entries that do not meet the above criteria will not be considered for an award.

• All entries are submitted through OpenWater, an online contest software.
• You only need to register once on OpenWater. After that you can submit as many entries as you like.
• Each project must be submitted separately.
• You can save and edit your entries as much as you like, until you proceed to the payment step.
• You can make changes or delete your entry until submissions close.
• You must complete payment (zone 1, professional) or complete submission (all students, professional zone 2) to finalize your submission and be eligible for evaluation.
• We will not reimburse paid entries, but we thank you for your contribution to the awards.
• Once evaluation has started in September 2019 onward, you’ll need to contact us to remove your project from consideration.