Frequently Asked Questions

1. General Questions

The competition takes place in three stages:

1. Call for Participation
Competition entries can be submitted twice a year for the Spring and the Autumn Awards: from September to November and March to May.

2. Nominations
All submissions are reviewed by the jury. A limited number of entries are admitted to compete for the Award titles in the next stage.

All nominated entries participate in an extensive PR campaign, press communications, and in the running for the Public Choice Award. All nominees get long-term visibility in the online exhibition and yearbook.

3. Award Winners
Granting of the Gold Awards, UX Design Awards, and Special Mentions (for all categories) is decided in a detailed evaluation process and jury session.

All winners are highlighted in a winner announcement, press communications, and benefit from additional PR opportunities, such as bespoke campaigns and live online presentations.

Professional categories Product and Concept:
Total participation costs: € 2,570*

Submission fee: € 320*
The submission fee is due for each entry submitted to the competition.
Nomination package: € 2,250*
The package fee is due for each entry that is nominated by the jury and enters the next competition stages. The fee includes: nomination title, certificate and trophy; judging for the Awards; global campaign for the Public Choice Award including extensive PR services; unlimited right of use for all awarded titles.

New Talent category:

Submission fee: € 70
The submission fee is due for each entry submitted to the competition.
There are no further fees for upcoming designers.

No hidden or recurring costs. All prices are per submission excluding VAT. The following payment options are available: Visa, Master Card, AmEx, Pay Pal or invoicing.

*If you are an NGO, public body, or organization with up to 5 employees, you can apply for a discount of 40% on submission and nomination fees. Please send us an email and provide the following information: Your team page URL or LinkedIn company page (showing number of employees) and your imprint URL.

For company members of the International Design Center Berlin the submission fee for one project is waived.

Professionals – businesses, design consultancies, R&D units – can enter recent projects in two competition categories:

Product: open to products, services and experiential environments that are on the market or will be launched within a year of the entry date.
Concept: open to start-up ideas, prototypes, explorations, research projects and showcases. We encourage bold statements about desirable brand experiences and new forays into potential product and service experiences.

Students, graduates and schools can enter bachelor’s or master’s projects in the New Talent category.

Solutions for all industries and application fields are accepted.

Submissions must include digital or electronic interfaces or functions. The market launch – or the start of the development process – must not date back more than two years at the time of submission.

The number of submissions is unlimited for professionals and universities. Students and graduates can submit one project per participant.

The UX Design Awards are given per category: Product, Concept and New Talent. For each competition the jury decides how many projects will be awarded.

Gold Award
By awarding the UX Design Award | Gold, the jury of experts from design, research and business can honor the best projects in each competition category.

Award
In each category, the jury presents the following titles to outstanding products, concepts, services and research projects: UX Design Award | Product, UX Design Award | Concept, and among emerging designers the UX Design Award | New Talent.

Public Choice Award
In addition, UX professionals and users worldwide vote online to select one UX Design Award | Public Choice among all nominees.

Special Mention
With a Special Mention, the jury can emphasize specific individual qualities of nominated projects.

Nomination
Among all valid submissions, the jury nominates a limited number of entries to participate in the competition. All projects receive the title UX Design Award | Nominated. They are promoted extensively and take part in the judging for the Awards and Special Mentions.

2. Submission Questions

You can register a participant profile at any time. Competition entries can be compiled and submitted from September to November and March to May each year.

The number of submissions is unlimited for professionals and universities. Students and graduates can submit one project per participant.

The submission process is as follows:

Set up a submission, enter public PR data and private project details for the jury. For additional details please download our full participant information.
You can add a promotional film for PR.
We highly recommend adding a short product explanation video: walk the judges through the core functions of your solution from a user's perspective, and briefly explain them (a low-tech video filmed with a cell phone is perfectly adequate).
We highly recommend uploading a short PDF file that describes the user research methods and gives an overview of the design and development process.
You can also link to a web-based software or demo application (optional).
Once your entries are final, submit online and select your preferred payment method. Visa, Master Card and Pay Pal are available, as well as invoicing. Upon payment of the submission fees your entries will be admitted to the nomination stage.

Please note: you can save your projects at any time and continue working on them until the submission deadline.

Part I – PR content (used for the awards website, yearbook and PR communications)

Required information:

Project name, company, designers.
Project description (max. 500 characters incl. spaces).
Company logo (EPS, SVG) and URLs (website, social media).
Four product images (WxH min. 3000x2000 px, max.4000x3000 px, JPEG, RGB).

Optional information:

Social media URLs and handles.
Promotional product film (mp4 / m4v, max. 500 MB) View examples

If your entry is nominated you may provide additional PR content at a later date:

Three questions for the project team. (max. 750 characters each, incl. spaces).
Elevator pitch film: short, personal team / project intro (mp4 / m4v, social media video). View example

Part II: Information for the jury (not public)

Deatiled Project Questions:

Project Pitch: Core idea behind your submission, why is it important? (max. 300 chars.)
Users and Challenge: Who are the users? What is their situation? Which challenges or problems do they face? (max. 500 chars.)
Context and User Journey purpose: What is the wider context of the use case? Is there a dedicated user/customer journey? (max. 500 chars.)
User-Centric Research, Design and Process: Which user research methods were applied? How was the research, design and development process structured? (max. 500 chars.)
Research Informing the Solution: How are research results reflected in the solution? What design decisions were influenced by the research? (max. 500 chars.)
Purpose, Solution Approach and User Benefits: What is the purpose of the solution, why was it designed for this challenge and context? How does it solve the problem and meet user needs? (max. 500 chars.)
Innovation: Which innovative features or technologies have been implemented? How do they create value for users? (max. 500 chars.)
Outcome and Business Value: What is the target market and (assumed) business model? How is the solution expected to succeed? (max. 500 chars.)
Competition and USP: Who are the main competitors, and how is the solution unique? (max. 500 chars.)
Accessibility, Responsibility and Trust: What measures were taken to ensure accessibility, responsible usage, security, privacy, and trustworthiness? (max. 500 chars.)
Social and Planetary Values: Does the solution have a positive impact on society beyond its target group? Were sustainable principles or resource-saving measures implemented? (max. 500 chars.)

We highly recommend adding more context about your project for the jury:

Explanation film: Present the workflow and key features of your solution. Explain the core functions and show how they work (60-90 sec., low-tech video).
R&D: Upload a PDF outlining the research, design and development process. Use product images and factual information to show how research findings influenced the design decisions and how they were implemented. Explain the improvement sand their effects. Offer metrics about the outcomes. (short and factual, max 10 pages).
Demo: Provide web access to a software product or demo version.

Among all valid submissions, the jury will select a number of Nominees that will be admitted to the competition for the Awards. Congratulations if the jury nominates your entry!

Each nominated entry will take part in the crucial next judging rounds for the run-up to the Awards, and will benefit from extensive PR services. For professional entries a nomination fee will be due upon acceptance of the nomination.
In subsequent judging rounds, the jury will choose the Award winners and special mentions in each competition category.
In addition, all Nominees will compete for the Public Choice Award, chosen in a global public online vote.

All winners will be pronounced in a Virtual Winner Announcement. This marks the highlight of each Award season, and at the same time the beginning of the next call for entries.

Each entry is evaluated in a multi-stage procedure:

First, the jury decides which projects are nominated to compete in the Awards.
In the second stage, teams of judges subject all nominated entries to a detailed criteria review, and shortlist finalists to enter the jury session.
In the final jury session all judges choose the Gold Award and Award winners, as well as the recipients of special mentions.

The UX Design Awards are judged by the following criteria: Relevance, Empowerment, Innovation, Outcome & Business Value, Holistic Thinking & User-centric Approach, Design & Experience Quality.

Learn more about our criteria here.

Actually we have something better. Here are four handy tips from our judges to make your submission shine:

Tell a Compelling Story

Explain the “why,” from user needs and intentions to the solution approach, and outcome.
Clearly describe the user challenge and the specific context within their field.

Show the Impact

Highlight tangible improvements, measurable outcomes and (long-term) impact.

Provide Facts

Describe the research methods used, key insights gained, and how those insights informed design decisions.
Explain how technologies were implemented to achieve the stated goals.
Clarify the current status of the solution (e.g., launched, in market, new product).
For redesigns, describe the previous version, outline the core improvements, and support them with evidence.

Be Clear and to the Point

Keep to the point when answering questions in the entry form.
Provide English translations for images or content that include non-English text.

Watch our Jury Digest conversations for more input from previous jurors. For further questions, please contact us by email or schedule a quick call.

3. Nomination Questions

Nomination is the first award stage. After all submissions are reviewed by the jury a limited number of entries are admitted to compete for the Award titles in the detailed evaluation stage.

All nominated entries participate in an extensive PR campaign, press communications, and in the running for the Public Choice Award. Nominees benefit from long-term visibility in the online exhibition and yearbook.

The public choice voting takes place on our website during the same time period as the PR campaign. The project with the most amount of votes at the end of the allotted time period wins the award title UX Design Award | Public Choice.

For reasons of fairness, our terms and conditions prohibit voting within and by your own company, but there is nothing to stop you from motivating friends, customers and partners to take part. We wish you success!

Still have a question? Get in touch with us by email or schedule a quick call!