• Selection Criteria

• Nomination Form

2010 National Design Awards

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution announces the tenth annual National Design Awards: a nationwide awards program celebrating excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement in American design. The Awards salute those key individuals and firms who have played an essential role in shaping the way we experience our world while demonstrating a commitment to the responsible stewardship of natural and human resources.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection criteria for all of the awards are excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life. Individual awardees must be citizens or long-term residents of the United States. Corporations and institutions must have their headquarters in the United States. Honorees will be selected for a body of realized work, not for any one specific project. The awards will be bestowed at a gala ceremony in fall 2010.

AWARD CATEGORIES

• Lifetime Achievement, in recognition of an individual or firm with a profound, long-term history of contributions to contemporary design practice.
• Corporate and Institutional Achievement, in recognition of a corporation or institution that has used design as an integrated strategic tool within its corporate mission and has consistently exhibited ingenuity and insight in the relationship between design and the quality of life in the United States.
• Design Mind, in recognition of a visionary individual (such as an educator, author, critic, curator, or scholar) or firm that has had a profound impact on design theory, practice, or public awareness, influencing a generation of practitioners or theorists.

Seven Design Awards, in recognition of innovative designers with at least seven years of professional experience:

• Architecture Design, for the design of the built environment.
• Communication Design, including but not limited to graphics, signage, print, and multimedia.
• Fashion Design, for the design of clothing, footwear, or accessories.
• Interaction Design, for the innovative design of digital technology.
• Interior Design, for the design of interior spaces and environments.
• Landscape Architecture Design, for the design of parks and gardens including urban planning.
• Product Design, for the design of consumer goods.

NOMINATING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Be sure to include contact information (addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses) for each candidate
2. Please indicate whether the nomination is for an individual or his/her firm, a corporation or an institution. You may make more than one nomination for each category.
3. In the space provided, you may comment on how your nominees’ work embodies the core selection criteria of excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life. Refer to the candidate’s most notable achievements and realized projects.
4. Please provide your full contact information, including professional affiliation.
5. The deadline for receipt of nominations is December 1, 2009. Late nominations may jeopardize your nominees’ candidacy.
6. Once your nominations are received by the Museum, nominees will be contacted with instructions on the submission of materials for the jury’s review.