RMB 4.1 Million Prize Pool! Global Call for Entries Opens for the 2026 Better Design Award

On October 8, the 2026 Better Design Award (BDA) officially opened its global call for entries, offering a total prize pool of RMB 4.1 million across 326 awards. Enterprises and institutions, design firms, universities and colleges, design teams, research institutions, and individual designers from around the world are invited to submit their work via the official website: www.bdaward.com.

Established under the guidance of China Media Group, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality, and the People’s Government of Shenzhen Municipality, the Better Design Award is an international, multidisciplinary design competition open to participants worldwide. Launched in 2024, the competition is held annually. Across its first two editions, it has steadily expanded its global reach and impact on industry, attracting entries from 69 countries and regions and collecting more than 22,000 submissions.

Leveraging China Media Group’s extensive multimedia network, the BDA Awards Ceremony has been broadcast on CCTV-2 Finance and CCTV-4 Chinese International Channel, achieving a cumulative audience reach of more than 1.2 billion across digital and traditional media. The competition has also featured prominently at landmark locations in cities including New York, London, and Milan, with promotional displays on large screens in China and overseas reaching more than 90 million people.

Committed to translating design excellence into tangible industrial value, the BDA has selected leading innovative projects for engagement with more than 20 key industrial clusters in Guangdong Province, supporting the province’s High-Quality Development Initiative for Counties, Towns and Villages and its “Guangdong Products for the World” campaign. The competition has also connected with more than 500 leading experts worldwide and established an end-to-end support mechanism combining awards with post-award services. Winners receive systematic support in project incubation, financing, market access, and channel development, helping regional industries upgrade and improve efficiency.

Building on the achievements of its first two editions, the 2026 BDA introduces comprehensive upgrades to its competition categories, judging system, commercialization pathways, and communications strategy. These improvements accelerate its transformation from a standalone design competition into an integrated platform for evaluation, incubation, commercialization, and global promotion, delivering comprehensive support for industrial innovation.

△ The 2024 Better Design Award Ceremony

△ The 2025 Better Design Award Ceremony

01 | Design as a Driving Force

Advancing Guangdong Products Globally Through an Integrated Industry Support System

Driving industrial development through competition and empowering the real economy are central to the BDA’ s mission. Closely aligned with the “Guangdong Products for the World: Illuminated by Design” initiative, this year’s competition builds on its existing post-award services to establish a comprehensive, end-to-end framework for translating design achievements into market value. The framework encompasses project promotion, incubation and acceleration, international market expansion, and regional industrial development. By integrating industrial development planning into every stage of design support, the BDA aims to move promising ideas beyond the competition and into industrial applications and commercial markets.

The Design Commercialization Incubation and Acceleration Programs are central to the BDA’s industry support strategy. Operating on an ongoing basis, the programs will select award-winning projects with strong market potential and draw on the competition’s expert network to assess their commercialization prospects and develop tailored industrial development roadmaps. By bringing together technology developers, industrial investors, supply-chain partners, and distribution and sales platforms, the programs will provide comprehensive support throughout the development process. Services include product iteration and optimization, mass-production guidance, brand positioning and development, investment and financing connections, and access to sales and distribution channels.

Tailored to the needs of different industrial sectors, the programs will also provide sector-specific design and development recommendations, organize dedicated showcase and pitching events, and connect selected projects with investors, e-commerce platforms, and offline distributors.

By bridging the critical gap between design concepts and commercial markets, the BDA aims to accelerate the successful industrialization of outstanding design innovations.

△ Outstanding works from the Better Design Award showcased at the 21st China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair

Promoting design achievements: Leveraging major national-level exhibition platforms, including the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) and the China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair, the BDA will organize industry promotion events to showcase award-winning works and connect outstanding design achievements with domestic and international markets.

Expanding international market access: The competition will continue to develop its global network of “Guangdong Products for the World × BDA Design Experience Center”, creating an integrated system for curating outstanding designs, promoting brands, and presenting innovative products on an ongoing basis. The initiative will help high-quality products from Guangdong reach wider international markets.

Empowering regional industries: In alignment with the High-Quality Development Initiative for Counties, Towns and Villages, the BDA will advance regional industrial upgrading through industrial design. Focusing on key industries and distinctive local industrial clusters, it will implement a collaborative model in which industry defines the challenges and design delivers the solutions.

Support will encompass industrial development planning, product innovation and upgrading, regional brand development, and the creation of distinctive intellectual property (IP). These initiatives will strengthen connections between design resources and local enterprises, ensuring that design expertise responds directly to regional industrial needs.

02 | Design as a Beacon

Refining Competition Categories and Expanding Incentives for Innovation

The 2026 Better Design Award offers a total prize pool of RMB 4.1 million, with a multi-tiered award structure comprising 326 awards across three award categories.

The BDA Grand Award comprises 16 awards, including 10 Product Grand Awards, each carrying a prize of RMB 200,000, and six Concept Grand Awards, each carrying a prize of RMB 100,000.

The Better Design Award comprises 300 awards, including 200 Product Design Awards and 100 Concept Design Awards.

The Better Design Award: Design For Industry comprises 10 awards, each carrying a prize of RMB 150,000.

Outstanding lead designers behind winning entries will also be eligible for nomination for prestigious honors, including the May 1 Labor Medal, the March 8 Red-Banner Holder honor, and the Guangdong Technical Expert title, further strengthening recognition and career development pathways for design professionals.

△ Award structure of the 2026 Better Design Award

For 2026, the BDA has refined its competition structure into two major categories: Product Design and Design for Industry, strengthening the alignment between design innovation and real-world industrial applications. Product Design comprises three groups covering a broad spectrum of product development: Industrial Foundation Group: Products for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) applications, as well as urban public facilities. Better Life Group: Consumer products across all categories for business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Future Design Group: Forward-looking conceptual designs that have not yet entered mass production or reached the market as of the date of submission. The Future Design Group is further divided into three tracks: Professional Concept Track: For professional designers and enterprises. Student Concept Track: For current students and young people who graduated within the past two years. Emerging Team Design Track: For companies and design studios established within the past two years. This tiered structure is designed to support innovators at different stages of development, from emerging talent to early-stage ventures and established design professionals.

Design for Industry focuses on system-level solutions for industrial transformation, including industrial operating models and systems, new models of producer services, and fundamental design research projects. These entries should embody the principles of design-led development, collaborative innovation, shared production capacity, and independent control of industrial and supply chains. By extending its evaluation beyond individual products to encompass broader industrial systems, the BDA aims to recognize design’s potential to drive transformation across entire value chains.

03 | Design as a Catalyst

Establishing a Rigorous International Jury System to Ensure Fairness and Professional Excellence

The BDA has established an integrated judging framework combining an international expert network, a scientifically structured evaluation process, and comprehensive oversight mechanisms. The competition operates under a dual-chair system, with one foreign jury president and one Chinese jury president jointly overseeing the evaluation process.

For 2026, Pradyumna Vyas, President of World Design Organization (WDO), will serve as Foreign Jury President, while Wang Min, Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), will serve as Chinese Jury President. Together, they will guide the judging process and uphold the competition’s professional standards, ensuring that evaluations reflect both global perspectives and an understanding of local industrial needs.

The BDA’s expert network brings together experienced jurors from leading international design awards, including the Red Dot Award, iF Design Award, International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), and Good Design Award. Their expertise spans design innovation, industrial commercialization, investment and financing, brand communications, and media. The network also incorporates technical leaders from leading industrial enterprises, venture capital partners, industrial incubation specialists, and marketing experts. Dedicated multidisciplinary judging panels will combine these areas of expertise to create a rigorous, cross-sector evaluation framework.

△ Jury Presidents of the 2026 Better Design Award

All entries will be assessed against four core principles: forward-looking vision, industrial applicability, people-centred value, and alignment with mainstream societal values. The evaluation process comprises three successive stages: Online Preliminary Evaluation, Second Evaluation (Physical Prototype or Model), Final Evaluation (Presentation and Defence). Consistent evaluation standards and clearly defined procedures will apply throughout the process, ensuring that the final selection reflects both international professional standards and the potential for real-world industrial implementation.

04 | Design as a Window to the World

Building an Integrated Communications Network to Bring Chinese Design to Global Audiences

Building on the extensive multimedia coverage achieved during its first two editions, the BDA is upgrading its communications strategy, shifting the emphasis from competition news and announcements towards deeper storytelling about design-led industrial development.

The competition will integrate television, radio, digital media, and social platforms into a comprehensive, multi-channel communications network, working with leading domestic and international media outlets and specialized industry publications to amplify its professional and societal impact.

△ Communications network of the Better Design Award

Communications will be organized around four key milestones: launch, engagement, awards, and commercialization. Making full use of China Media Group’s extensive communications capabilities, the BDA will collaborate with national and regional mainstream media, specialized industry publications, and social media platforms in China and overseas. Activities will include thematic campaigns, expert commentary, and collaborative content creation, balancing professional industry insights with accessible public-facing storytelling to expand the competition’s global reach. Following the competition, a series of design interviews, short documentaries, and in-depth feature reports will explore the people, technological breakthroughs, and industrial applications behind the winning entries. Through these stories, the BDA will continue to strengthen its international profile and communicate the ideas, achievements, and evolving vision of contemporary Chinese design to audiences worldwide.

Rooted in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area and open to the world, the 2026 Better Design Award is both an international platform for design excellence and a vital vehicle for applying design to the real economy and fostering new quality productive forces. The BDA warmly invites design organizations, enterprises, universities and colleges, innovation teams, and individual designers worldwide to participate and contribute their ideas and creativity. Together, through the power of design, we can drive innovation, strengthen industry, and advance high-quality economic development.

Submission Guidelines

The global call for entries is now open.

Eligible participants worldwide can visit the official Better Design Award website at www.bdaward.com to review the competition rules and submit their entries.

For the latest announcements and updates, please refer to the official website and the BDA’s official WeChat account.