The 2023 Core77 Design Awards open for entry reveals focus on emerging design futures

The design awards program founded in 2011 returns with new future-focused categories, and an interest in all things Metaverse, AI, etc. with the implementation of a new “Emerging Technologies” category and more.

Core77 will kick off its 12th year of celebrating design excellence by introducing its open for entry period of the Core77 Design Awards on January 9th, 2023. The comprehensive program honors design work across 22 distinct categories, and will remain open for entry until April 6th, 2023.

Future-forward

2022 was a year introducing us to radical technologies that will forever change the way we conduct design in the future. While AR and VR was a fun source of entertainment just a few years ago, the introduction of concepts like the Metaverse in 2022 showed the potential power of virtual reality in our future to change how we work and interact. AI programs like Midjourney and Dall-E are interrupting typical design practices quickly as design students begin to collaborate with AI softwares to design never before imagined products.

The 2023 Core77 Design Awards were envisioned in the spirit of progressive innovation, with a number of new categories added to the roster that honor and recognize how our world is rapidly changing, and the ways in which design and technology are working together to shape our world.

What’s new for 2023?

The 2023 Core77 Design Awards introduces to its roster of awards a list of new categories, including Apps & Platforms — Audio, Video & Photography Equipment — Brand & Identity — Emerging Technologies — Gaming — Robotics — Sustainability — and Toys & Play.

The Visualization Prize, sponsored by KeyShot, will be open to any eligible projects across all 22 categories and awards the best renderings of the year.

The judges

Each year, the program hand-picks a jury of international design talent to judge each category. This year's lineup is no exception, including design all-stars like Jaye Buchbinder (director of Product Development, Emeco), Allison Dring(CEO, Made of Air), Margaret Lee (design executive coach, Design Dept), Stuart Harvey Lee (founder, Prime Studio), Inna Lobel (creative director, head of NY ID, frog), Christine Gaspar (former executive director, Center for Urban Pedagogy), Su Matthew Hale (CEO & chief creative officer, Hale Design) Ben McGinley (director of design, Harley Davidson), Beau Oyler (CEO, Enlisted Design), Todd Palmer (director, Diversity in Design Collaborative), Rotimi Solala (founder, SO dsgn), Bas Van De Poel (co-founder & innovation director, Modem), with plenty other fantastic industry leaders and more judges to be announced. The Core77 Design Awards are dedicated to promoting equity within the design field, are committed to curating a diverse board of captains, and choose Jury Captains on a criteria not only of accolades, but also their efforts in the impact space. These professionals are each asked to build their own judging teams that promise a wide swath of experience and perspective, ensuring a diverse point of view for each category.

The winners

The best part of this process, however, is the announcement. Not just to finally satiate everyone's anticipation for who the winners are, but to kick off a conversation on the current state and future of design in the years to come. In June of 2023, winners will first be announced in a live virtual ceremony so honorees can celebrate together on a global scale.

And what do winners get when they are bestowed this honor? Beyond another line on their LinkedIn profile, honorees get their work showcased across the Core77 blog and beyond, adoration by your peers, visibility by esteemed designers in your field, as well as a very swanky trophy designed by none other than New York studio Rich Brilliant Willing. Inspired by the kind of group effort that designers and their clients engage in every day, the trophy doubles as a mold, allowing winners to make multiples as a way of honoring the entire team.

The 2023 Core77 Design Awards is now open for entry by all.

Learn more about the upcoming awards here.