Assessment Process

It is advisable to review the following assessment process prior to making an application to the Australian Design Award - Dyson Student Award

All entries submitted to the Australian Design Award - Dyson Student Award undergo an internet based shortlisting process involving more than 300 local and international industry experts. Design practitioners from around the globe are invited to log onto the Australian Design Award - Dyson Student Award website as a judge and vote for entries to proceed to the next stage. Judges exercise their professional opinion as to whether an entry has sufficient merit to gain further assessment.

The outcome of the First Round Internet Shortlisting is an accurate industry ranking of the entries from most successful to least successful. Approximately 30 of the top entries will proceed to the next stage each year. The remainder of the entries do not progress further in the competition. The Australian International Design Awards and Dyson reserve the right to set this cut-off threshold at a higher or lower level depending on the quality of entries for the year in question. Applicants are notified of the results shortly after round one is completed.

All shortlisted applicants are required to submit a prototype or model of their project and additional support material to complete a physical project assessment. This stage involves a dedicated multidisciplinary panel of 6 experts in industrial design, engineering design, software-electronics design, furniture and lighting design, architecture, graphics, model-making, new technology and intellectual property.

No formal presentations are required by the applicant, however should the judges wish to direct questions to the applicant during assessment, a structured Q&A session will take place by conference call. All submission material is presented to the panel by the facilitators in a consistent, unbiased manner. Presentation boards are read out and prototypes are set up on a central table for review.

Shortlisted applicants must submit the following material by the required date:

Please note that more detailed specifications and guidelines are provided to the applicant following notification of first round results. More on eligibility and conditions of entry.