KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD is an international competition for product design that aims to co-create with talented designers and support their activities.
The KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2025 will accept entries with the theme of “prototype.” In product design, the word “prototype” is generally used to mean a pre-finished product or a sample before completion, but for this project, we saw it as “an original idea that has the potential to lead to the next step.” A well-thought-out prototype will inspire others and serve as a catalyst for the future. The KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2025 is looking for product designs that will be the starting point for the future.
In addition, the “NEW GENERATION AWARD” will be given just as last year. The NEW GENERATION AWARD encourages unique ideas and challenges that are not bound by existing concepts, and is open only to student applicants with the expectation of future success.
Click here to view the message video from all judges regarding the recruitment themes
https://www.kokuyo.com/en/award/2025/video/
—The main application guidelines for the KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2025
1. Theme: prototype
Groundbreaking design often begins with a prototype.
Prototyping is to design an original idea into a form that has the potential to lead to the next step.
The KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2025 seeks designs pointing the way to the future and serving as a catalyst.
Your design will inspire others and become a vector for the future.
We look forward to seeing your “prototype” not bound by existing thinking or limited to mockups or ideas.
2. Eligible entries:
Any stationery, furniture or tool used in working, learning and living scenes
3. Registration and submission:
July 26 (Fri) to 12:00 (noon) JST on October 9 (Wed), 2024
4. Judges:
- Shogo Kishino (Representative of 6D-K / Art Director and Graphic Designer)
- Tsuyoshi Tane (Founder of Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects / Architect)
- Nao Tamura (Designer)
- Teruhiro Yanagihara (TERUHIRO YANAGIHARA STUDIO. CO LTD. / Creative Director and Designer)
- Satoshi Yoshiizumi (Founder of TAKT PROJECT Inc. / Designer)
- Hidekuni Kuroda (President of KOKUYO Co., Ltd.)
5. Prizes:
- Grand Prix (one from all entries) ¥2,000,000 (about $12,800)
- Merit Award (three from all entries) ¥500,000 (about $3,200) per winner
- NEW GENERATION AWARD (max ten winners) ¥30,000 (about $200) per winner*
* The NEW GENERATION AWARD is selected by KOKUYO Co., Ltd. from among all entries submitted by students (from elementary school to graduate school students) in the hope for their future success. We will select up to 10 outstanding entries that, based on their presentation sheets, make us “feel that their futures will be exciting” (without judging the models).
6. Judging criteria:
- The idea’s clarity
- The idea highlights social issues
- The design’s potential to become a product
7. Award announcements:
March 22, 2025 [tentative]
Website: https://www.kokuyo.com/en/award/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KokuyoDesignAward.japan/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kokuyo_designaward/