Professional designers or teams and design students from the member cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) who make outstanding contributions through their creativity can be registered as candidates for the SDAY.
Entrants can be individuals or teams. A nominated individual, he or she shall be aged 35 or below by16 March 2025. In a nominated team, all of its members shall be aged 35 or below by 16 March 2025.
Entrants from architectural design shall be aged 40 or below by 16 March 2025.
For the student group, entrants shall remain registered students in colleges or other educational institutions by 16 March 2025.
Brand & identity, packaging design, publications, typography, posters, illustrations, information visualization
Interactive design, website UI design, PC and mobile UX design, animation design, game & software design, motion picture and television design
Automobile, furniture, product design
Architectural design, landscape design, interior design, urban and public guiding system design
Apparel, accessories, texture design, dyeing & knitting
Including designs generated with the assistance of AI
Registration, nominations and entries submissions are free. However, entrants are responsible for all logistic and insurance costs.
100,000 RMB per winner
X1
30,000 RMB per winner
X10
20,000 RMB per winner
X10
Honorary prize
X1～3Note:
The Best Nominator Award recognizes the nominator who provides the best support and cooperation for the Jury and the Secretariat or nominates the most winners. SCCDA would select the winner(s) with assistance from the Jury.
Prize payment:
1. The payment of the prize will be arranged after the SDAY Awarding Ceremony and paid in accordance with fiscal regulations and tax procedures of the People's Republic of China.
2. The payment of the prize could take up to 6 months (starting from the second day of the Awarding Ceremony). Winners are required to provide all the info and materials needed for the payment to the SDAY secretariat before the deadline. If the submission of materials is delayed, the recipient of the prize changes or any other expected situation happens on the winner's account, the SDAY Secretariat has the right to postpone the payment and Secretariat's explanation shall be final.
3. All prizes are pre-tax amount. All prizes are subject to income tax in accordance with local law, and SDAY Secretariat can pay the prize after paying tax on winners' behalves.
4. International winners are strongly suggested to receive the prize via personal bank account. If recipient differs from the winner, a signed/stamped authorization letter is required for payment.
Call for entries worldwide
Deadline for online registration
Deadline for tangible works submission (time for arrival at the Secretariat’s warehouse)
Final judging and results announcement
Awarding Ceremony and SDAY Exhibition
All nominees must register and submit documents online at the official website of the SDAY before 24:00 Beijing Time (GMT+8:00), 16 March 2025， by finishing the following steps (all materials must be in English)
Read carefully and agree to the Terms and Conditions.
Log in using the User Name and Password provided to nominators.
Fill out the registration form.
Fill out the description form, one for each entry.
Upload a photo of the nominee.
Deliver the tangible projects, if any, to the warehouse designated by the Secretariat and ensure that they arrive before 16 March 2025.
The entries submitted for professional group shall be works that are complete, have been implemented, or have become available at the market. The entries shall be completed after 1 January 2023.
Conceptual designs or designs that are still under development and/or have not yet been commercially launched, as well as works for displaying, prototypes, renderings and artist’s impressions， are eligible as entries only for the student group.
Entries submitted for the previous SDAY are NOT accepted for the new edition of the award.
All entrants shall be natives of or have been living for at least two years in one of the UNESCO Creative Cities or Hong Kong.
Entries shall be submitted by the nominator or by the designer or the team’s representative with the authorization by the nominator. Each entrant can submit no more than ten pieces of work.
The awarding ceremony is provisionally scheduled (to be confirmed) to take place in Shenzhen in April 2025. All winners including the best nominator prize winners will be invited to the awarding ceremony and various events of the Shenzhen Design Week, including talks, forums, exhibitions, etc.
