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Submissions

2025 IIDA Global Excellence Awards

  • Closed
  • Finalists Announced
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Honoring excellence in originality and creativity in international interior design/interior architecture projects across 15 categories.

Winners

Jury

  • Christine Van Duyn GEA2025 juror

    Christine Van Duyn, IIDA

    Chair of Interior Design, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)

  • Joyce Fownes GEA2025 juror

    Joyce Fownes, IIDA

    Principal, Studio Leader, Corgan

  • Ann Marie Krol GEA2025 juror

    Ann Marie Krol, IIDA

    Senior Associate, Design Director, Vocon

Guidelines

Submission Requirements

All submissions must be completed electronically. No hard copy submissions will be accepted. To enter a project into this competition, you will need to prepare and submit the following:

Written Component

  • Your firm's contact information including name, address, phone number, and email

  • Your design project's information including name and location
  • Project description, a brief project summary (50-word maximum)
  • Challenge statement, a description of your design challenge (250-word maximum)
  • Solution statement, a description of specific solutions to project challenges (250-word maximum)

Images

  • Submit 7-10 color images total- only one (1) exterior image is permitted; Use numbers to name your image files, in order of uploads (01, 02, 03, etc).

  • Submit a minimum of one (1) floorplan- A maximum of three (3) floorplans are allowed; Please use the following format for floor plans: "floorplan1, floorplan2, floorplan3".
  • No composite images allowed - only one photograph per image upload
  • Do not reference or include your design/architectural firm name/logo in the images
  • Images may be edited to improve contrast ratio, color balance, and composition through cropping only
  • Images may not be edited to add, remove, or alter any aspect or element of the project including its context. Images should represent the project as it exists in the built environment.
  • Conceptual renderings will not be accepted.

Categories

Projects must be submitted in one of the categories below. Categories may be renamed, consolidated, or eliminated (and projects reclassified) at the discretion of IIDA and/or the jurors.

  • Corporate Spaces - Large (1,000 square meters and above)

  • Corporate Spaces - Small (under 1,000 square meters)
  • Education (elementary/secondary educational facilities, colleges/universities)
  • Entertainment (casinos, performing arts centers, sports arenas, theaters)
  • Healthcare (hospitals, outpatient clinics, medical facilities)
  • Hotels (must include at least one (1) guest room image)
  • Institutional (cultural, government/municipal spaces, libraries, religious spaces)
  • Public Spaces and Commercial Lobbies
  • Residences - Large (125 square meters and above)
  • Residences - Small (under 125 square meters)
  • Restaurants, Lounges, and Bars
  • Retail (stores, boutiques)
  • Sales Centers and Show Flats
  • Showrooms and Exhibition Spaces
  • Spas, Fitness Centers, and Gymnasiums

Judging

A jury of design professionals will select the winning design projects. Submissions are judged on excellence in aesthetics, design, creativity, and function as well as the suitability of the design solution to the project challenge and the successful integration of the elements of design. The jury reserves the right not to select a winner from the entries submitted. A maximum of two (2) winners in each category will be selected. It is at the jurors' discretion not to select a winner in each category. A "Best of Competition" winner will be selected from the category winners.

Prize

Winners will be celebrated with an awards ceremony in Paris, France, February of 2026! Winners will be honored and awarded during the scheduled ceremony, featured on IIDA.org and across IIDA’s social media platforms, receive official digital assets, including competition winner logos for self-promotion, and coverage in an official press release distributed to leading industry outlets and media partners.

For questions or more information, contact IIDA Design Competitions Manager at competitions@iida.org

Past Winners