Entry is now open to the 2018 Good Design Awards to be held in Sydney in May this year.

One of the oldest and most prestigious international design awards programs in the world, Australia’s Good Design Awards showcases the best of Australian and international design, and recognises the achievements of designers across 10 design disciplines spanning more than 30 categories. Now in its 60th year, the Good Design Awards will once again celebrate design excellence with an awards ceremony at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday 17 May 2018 and a free public exhibition charting the award winners over the last 60 years at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal from 25-27 May 2018.

Observing that good design has the transformative power to create better and more efficient products, services and spaces, Good Design Australia CEO Dr Brandon Gien notes that design contributes to a better society and a more sustainable and prosperous world.

The annual design awards program provides a platform for Australian and international designers to showcase excellence in architectural design; digital and communication design; and emerging areas of design including business model innovation, social innovation and design entrepreneurship.

To celebrate the milestone 60th anniversary year, several new awards and initiatives have been launched including new categories for Fashion Design and Engineering Design; and new accolades such as the Better World Award and Good Design Team of the Year Award. An Indigenous Designer Award introduced this year will recognise and celebrate the important contribution made by Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander designers to Australian design across the spectrum of design disciplines and practice.

The highest design honour, the Good Design Award of the Year goes to one overall winning product, service or project that represents ground-breaking design at an international level. Previous winners have included Cochlear for their revolutionary Cochlear Nucleus 24 Contour hearing implant system (2000); Australian designer Marc Newson for his Economy Class Seat for the Qantas A380 (2009); Hollywood Director James Cameron for his Deepsea Challenger Submarine (2012); Tesla Model S (2015); and Flow Hive, a game-changing beehive design that produces honey with the turn of a handle (2016).

The Good Design Awards judging panel will assess all entries based on three overarching design criteria: Good Design, Design Innovation and Design Impact.

The 3-day Good Design Showcase Exhibition being held at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay from Friday 25 May to Sunday 27 May 2018 will form part of Vivid Sydney, and will bring together more than 300 award-winning and game-changing designs from 1958 to the present.

Entries for the 2018 Good Design Awards are now open and will close on 9 March 2018. Winners will be announced on 12 April 2018.