From 18 February to 20 March 2026, the winter submission period for the National Design Award of Latvia 2026 is open — a national award in design aimed at identifying, evaluating, and promoting the most outstanding achievements of Latvian designers, while fostering the development of the Latvian design sector. Works may be submitted in five categories: Product Design, Service Design, Communication Design, Environmental Design, and Digital Solutions. The achievements of Emerging Designers will be evaluated separately.
The National Design Award of Latvia (NDAL) 2026 initiates a new competition cycle, which will continue until 2028. Having won the competition announced by the Ministry of Culture for performing the state administration task—quality assessment in the design sector the Latvian Design Centre (LDC) for the next three years as well.
«We are proud of what has been achieved in the last three years. We see that the competition has not only promoted public understanding of design but has also given designers themselves confidence in the quality of their work and encouraged them to enter the international arena—to participate in competitions, exhibitions, and fairs, thereby promoting the recognition of both their own design and Latvian design in general. We want to continue the path we started in the next three years, which is why «Direction» has been chosen as the leitmotif for the National Design Award of Latvia this year. With this theme, we want to emphasize the importance of the design process and remind everyone that success requires persistent work and goal-oriented development,» says Dita Danosa, Head of the LDC.
«Continuing the path towards the goal, we will maintain the entry submission and evaluation procedure established in previous years, which has proven to be successful. Likewise, the evaluation criteria will remain unchanged, covering not only the functional and aesthetic qualities of design but also its sustainability, creation process, user experience, and inclusion,» Dita points out. «We ourselves, in organizing the award, strive to follow the criteria set in the competition, encouraging the submission of the broadest possible spectrum of works.» Alongside the categories of product, service, communication, and environmental design, as well as digital solutions, the works of Emerging Designers created during the study process will be evaluated in the competition. «In this way, we want not only to increase the confidence of future design professionals but also to encourage the exchange of ideas between different generations of designers.»
Marking the new competition cycle, this year the visual communication of the award has been created by the young, internationally awarded designer Elīza Tolstika. «Design has many directions and takes various forms, yet it always retains its core — a balance between function and aesthetics, creativity and usability, contemporaneity and permanence,» Elīza explains. Her work has been developed in dialogue with the visual identity created in the previous cycle by designer Kirils Kirasirovs, and the competition logo developed by design studio H2E has also been retained.
Entry Submission and Evaluation
Submission of works for the National Design Award of Latvia 2026 is open twice a year: the autumn submission period lasted until 20 December 2025, and the winter submission period will take place from 18 February to 20 March 2026. Entries must be submitted via the website www.dizainabalva.lv, where the competition application form is available.
Works created since January 2023 are eligible for submission to the National Design Award of Latvia 2026. Entries may be submitted for works realized in Latvia regardless of the author's nationality, as well as those realized anywhere else in the world, provided the author’s country of origin is Latvia. Entries may be submitted by the author or another person related to the work, such as its owner or commissioner.
The entries submitted to the NDAL are evaluated in two rounds. In the first round, the Selection Jury evaluates the entries received during the respective submission period and nominates participants for the next round of the competition. In the second round, the Final Jury evaluates the nominees and selects the finalists. The Final Jury will also determine the winner of each category and the recipients of the National Design Award of Latvia Grand Prix and the «Emerging Designer» title. The second round of the competition will conclude with the award ceremony of the National Design Award of Latvia in early June 2026. The exact dates will be announced in due time on the website www.dizainabalva.lv.
Evaluation criteria
NDLA 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 Bauhaus initiative.
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.
Selection jury
The Selection Jury for the National Design Award of Latvia 2026 will consist of design professionals from various fields:
- Maija Rozenfelde Partner at studio «KID Design» and Head of the Graphics Design Department at the Latvian Academy of Art (LMA);
- ays Ieva Kalēja, Chair of the Product Design selection jury. Designer at the studio «mammalampa» and Creative Director of the design bath brand «PAA»;
- Mārcis Miķelsons–Germs Head of the UX Design Department at «Cube»;
- Linda Krūmiņa Architect, Co-founder of the office «MADE arhitekti»;
- Liene Drāzniece Graphic Designer, Co-founder and Lead Designer of the cosmetics company «Madara Cosmetics»;
- Reinis Leo Miķelsons Designer and Architect, Co-founder of the design studio «Gateris Works»;
- Mārcis Ziemiņš Designer and Founder of the company «Don’t Panic Design Solutions»;
- Alise Dīrika Product Developer and Co-founder of the data visualization platform «Infogram»;
- Māris Upenieks Creative Director, Author of the donation platform idea «Stopify»;
- Agris Batalauskis Director of the Patent Office;
- Pēteris Jurčenko UX Designer, Accessibility Specialist, Head of the company «Turn Digital».