A total of 53 entries were submitted for the National Design Award of Latvia 2026 autumn session. The highest number of applications — 21 in total — was received in the Product Design category. It is followed by Environmental Design with 13 works and Communication Design with 10 entries. Six works were submitted in the Digital Solutions category, while three entries were received in Service Design. Out of all submissions, 13 were developed during the study process and will be evaluated separately.
The selection jury will begin its work this month, evaluating all entries submitted during the autumn period. Three jury members — design professionals with extensive experience in the field — will operate in each category.
Product design
- Ieva Kalēja — studijas «mammalampa» dizainere un zīmola «PAA» radošā direktore;
- Reinis Leo Miķelsons — designer and architect, co-founder of design studio «Gateris Works»;
- Agris Batalauskis — Director of the Patent Office.
Communication design:
- Maija Rozenfelde — partner and design director at design studio «Kid Design»;
- Liene Drāzniece — graphic designer, co-founder and lead designer of the cosmetics company «Madara Cosmetics»;
- Māris Upenieks — creative director, author of the idea for the donation platform «Stopify».
Environmental design:
- Artūrs Analts — interdisciplinary designer, author of the design for the Baltic Pavilion at «Expo 2025»;
- Linda Krūmiņa — architect, co-founder of the office «MADE arhitekti»;
- Mārcis Ziemiņš — environmental designer and founder of the company «Don’t Panic Design Solutions».
Service Design and Digital Solutions:
- Mārcis Miķelsons–Germs — Head of the UX Design Department at the company «Cube»;
- Alise Dīrika — product developer and co-founder of the data visualization platform «Infogram»;
- Pēteris Jurčenko — UX designer, accessibility specialist, and CEO of the company «Turn Digital».
In evaluating the works submitted for the National Design Award of Latvia, the design industry goals and action directions defined in the Design Strategy of Latvia 2022–2027, as well as the values of the European Commission's initiative «The New European Bauhaus,» will be taken into account. The evaluation of the works submitted for 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.
The entries submitted for the National Design Award of Latvia are evaluated in two stages. In the first stage, the selection jury reviews the works received during the respective application period and selects nominees for the next stage of the competition, where the best entries from both the autumn and winter periods will be evaluated by an international final jury.
It is important to note that jury members will not participate in the evaluation of works in which they have been directly or indirectly involved. In such cases, the work will be evaluated by the remaining jury members in the respective category.
The autumn nominees will be announced in February, when the winter application period for the competition will also open.