14 On 1 October 2024, the application for the National Design Award of Latvia 2025 - an award of national significance in design, which aims to identify, evaluate and promote the outstanding performance of Latvian designers, contributing to the development of the Latvian design industry - opened. This year, the categories of the competition have been innovated by introducing the "Young Designer" nomination in addition to the existing five categories - product design, service design, communication design, environmental design and digital solutions.
The National Design Award of Latvia 2025 (NDLA2025) competition continues the procedure of the competition and evaluation established in 2023 and 2024, and this year is the final year of the three-year cycle organised by the Latvian Design Centre. " We want to stimulate students' interest in taking part in the competition, which we have already seen last year, so we have introduced the 'Young Designer' nomination in order to create a fair competition for future professionals who have submitted work developed during their studies and to give recognition to further encourage their development. Student entries will be entered in the existing categories with the additional notation that it is a work developed during their studies, which will be taken into account by the jury when judging the entries and deciding on their progression to the next round. The finalists will compete for the title of "Young Designer"," comments Dita Danosa, Head of the Latvian Design Centre.
The submission period for the NDLA 2025 is open twice a year: the autumn submission will run until 20 November 2024 and the winter submission will run from 1 February to 20 March 2025. Submissions can be made online at www.dizainabalva.lv, where the Call for Entries form is available.
"The National Design Award of Latvia is an excellent example of how design unites and strengthens our creative community. International award-winning works, young talents, as well as the participation of designers working abroad, show that the Latvian design platform is becoming more and more recognisable and accessible to a wider audience. I am pleased that the competition both fosters designers' sense of belonging to a community and helps a wider audience to understand the essential role of design in our society and in improving the quality of life," said Agnese Lāce, Minister of Culture.
Entries submitted to the NDLA are judged in two rounds. In the first round, the selection jury evaluates the entries received during the submission period and nominates the candidates for the next round. In the second round, the final jury evaluates the nominees and nominates the finalists. The final jury will also decide on the winner of each category and the winners of the National Design Award of Latvia Grand Prix and the title of "Young Designer". The second round of the competition will conclude with the Design Award ceremony at the end of May 2025. The exact dates will be announced in due course on www.dizainabalva.lv.
Entries can be submitted by the author of the work or by another person connected with the work, such as the owner or the commissioner. Entries can be submitted by natural or legal persons, including public administrations, municipalities, educational institutions, companies, organisations and others.
The National Design Award of Latvia 2025 is open to works created since January 2022. You can submit works that have been realised in Latvia (regardless of the nationality of the authors) and works that have been realised anywhere else in the world, provided that their country of origin is Latvia.
The National Design Award of Latvia entries will be judged taking into account the design objectives and action lines defined in the Latvian Design Strategy 2022-2027 and the values of the European Commission's New European Bauhausinitiative.
The evaluation of the entries submitted to the competition will be based on the following quality criteria:
- originality and creativity of the idea,
- the defined problem and task(s), and the chosen solutions to solve the problem,
- co-creation, stakeholder involvement and cooperation in the work process,
- functionality and technological solution,
- aesthetics and other dimensions of quality of experience,
- economic relevance, sustainability, and circularity,
- social relevance, inclusion, availability and accessibility.
Entries must be applied for and will be evaluated in five categories: product design, service design, communication design, environmental design, and digital solutions:
- Product design - products that offer solutions to today's challenges and contribute to the quality of life and the development of society, without having a negative impact on the environment. New or improved products introduced to the market, produced in larger or smaller factories and workshops, and prototypes developed. Private, public (state and municipal) and non-state sector products in any sector.
- Service design - new or improved services and processes introduced to the market, as well as prototypes of services and processes that contribute to improving the quality of life, the environment and the development of society. Public (state and local government), private and non-governmental services in any sector.
- Service design - new or improved services and processes introduced to the market, as well as prototypes of services and processes that contribute to improving the quality of life, the environment and the development of society. User-friendly, inclusive and responsive public, private and non-governmental sector processes, systems and programmes that build better infrastructure, stakeholder communication and interaction.
- Communication design - graphics and communication solutions that deliver powerful, clear and inclusive messages. Branding, graphic design, advertising, marketing and public education campaigns, packaging, signage, publishing and type design, as well as illustration and other visual communication work.
- Environmental design - environmental solutions that contribute to a beautiful, sustainable and inclusive environment. Design solutions for public and private indoor and outdoor spaces. From infrastructure to interiors, from cultural to commercial environments, from temporary to permanent solutions.
- Digital solutions - digital works with high audience engagement, interaction and effectiveness. Works created and used in digital environments - websites, apps, games, NFT, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, audio, video, immersive experiences and more.
The National Design Award of Latvia was established in 2017 with the support of the Ministry of Culture.The competition is organised by the Latvian Design Centre from 2023 to 2025.