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Submissions

2026 IIDA Will Ching Design Competition

  • Coming Soon
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Honoring originality and excellence in commercial interior design/interior architecture from firms with ten (10) or fewer employees.

Eligibility

Any interior designer or interior architect working in a firm with ten (10) or fewer employees is eligible to enter. This competition is open to participants worldwide. The design project(s) must have been completed in or after December 2023.

Guidelines

Important Dates

The Will Ching Design Competitions takes place annually. 2026 commemorates the 33rd annual IIDA Will Ching Design Competition.
Submission Open December 1, 2025
Submission Closed February 10, 2026

Pricing

All fees must be submitted electronically. Apply for IIDA Membership to take advantage of our member pricing!

Early Bird Pricing: December 1 - 15, 2025
Regular Pricing: December 16 - January 26, 2026
Last Chance Pricing: January 27 - February 10, 2026

  • $350

    IIDA Member Early Bird

  • $450

    Non-IIDA Member Early Bird

  • $400

    IIDA Member Regular Price

  • $500

    Non-IIDA Member Regular Price

  • $450

    IIDA Member Last Chance

  • $550

    Non-IIDA Member Last Chance

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)

Please use the following list of categories as a guide regarding the projects we accept. We neither judge nor award based on categories, but we do allow designs to be submitted into a category:

  • Aviation and Transportation (centers, hubs, stations, and transportation-related facilities)

  • Corporate Space Large (1,000 square meters and above)
  • Corporate Space Small (under 1,000 square meters)
  • Education (elementary/secondary educational facilities, colleges/universities)
  • Entertainment (casinos, performing arts centers, 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 & Commercial Lobbies
  • Restaurants, Lounges, & Bars
  • Retail (stores, boutiques)
  • Sales Centers & Show Flats
  • Showrooms & Exhibition Spaces
  • Spas and Wellness
  • Sports (arenas, gymnasiums, fitness centers and facilities)
  • Sustainability/Adaptive Reuse (environmentally responsible interiors)

Images

Please submit color images of your completed project, in JPG or JPEG format with a maximum file size of 2MB. You may submit captions to your images, with a 50-word maximum. Take note of the following image requirements:

  • 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

Judging

A jury of design professionals will select the finalists and 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.

Prize

Winners will be honored at the Chicago-located winner’s celebration, known as the black-tie IIDA event Revel In Design, on June 8, 2025! The winners will be featured on IIDA.org and across Interior Design media platforms. In the event that a previously published entry is selected as the winner, Interior Design reserves the right not to republish that project. The winners will also receive official digital assets, including competition winner logos for self-promotion, coverage, and spotlighted on IIDA’s social media accounts, and published in an official press release distributed to leading industry outlets and media partners.