COMPETITIONS: WHAT DESIGNERS SHOULD WATCH FOR WHEN TAKING PART IN INTERNATIONAL DESIGN AWARD SCHEMES OR DESIGN COMPETITIONS - PART 3
In Parts 1 and 2 of this article, international design competition expert Helmut Langer discussed International Design Award Schemes for work that has already been produced and published. The third and final installment of this multi-part article focuses on International Design Competitions for original and unpublished design work created under a given theme.

Part 3: International design competitions calling for new work to be produced
This
type of competition is not so common at the international level as, for
example, the biennales, annual shows and annual design publications.
But here, too, there's plenty of room for mistakes and pitfalls. First
of all, it's important to stress that the best and most cost-effective
way of finding a solution for a design task is direct contact between
the client and the designer, team of designers or design agency. Yet,
there are circumstances in which an international design competition
can be sensible.
1. International design competitions open to professional designers
- Open design competitions.
Here the organiser is interested in receiving as many ideas as
possible. There is no payment for participation. The quality of the
submissions can vary enormously.
- Restricted design competitions are open to a selected group of designers only. In comparison to the open competitions, these produce better results.
2. International design competitions open to students
These
competitions should always have be relevant to the students' education
and bring useful experience. Professional designers are not allowed to
take part. The principle of equal treatment for all participants is
upheld, and all submissions remain anonymous in the judging. There are
both open and invited competitions for students.
Before
entering any competition, you should always read all the terms and
conditions very carefully. And above all check whether these conform to
the international regulations and guidelines for professional and fair
design competitions. These rules are laid down by the three world
federations (Icograda, ICSID and IFI - see part one of this series).
What do the international regulations for international design competitions say?
Qualification
The competition brief must clearly specify what the category is and who is permitted to enter.
Deadlines for submission
The
period between announcement of the competition and the deadline for
submissions can be from three to six months - but three months is the
minimum.
Briefing and judgement criteria
The
briefing must clearly set out the theme, the aim and the expected type
of design (drawings, finished designs, models, specifications, etc.).
Attention should also be paid as to whether specific judgement criteria
are published in the competition documentation.
The jury
-
The jury should be composed equally of men and women, where at all
possible, and the jurors should have proper expertise and experience.
-
The majority of the jury must be practising designers. Other jury
members must have the right specialist knowledge in a relevant subject.
- The jury must be composed of five or more members.
- The
jury must be international in scope, which means as far as possible all
the continents must be represented. The jury members must be from many
different countries, in order to guarantee due attention is paid to
different traditions, cultures and visual tastes. No country should
have a majority representation in a jury.
- No organiser may be
represented in the jury, neither as a member, nor as a presenter, nor
in any other form. A jury must be independent.
- The chairperson
of the jury must be voted by the jury members from among the jury
members, before the work of the jury commences. In order to guarantee
the independence of the jury, the jury chairperson may not be
determined in advance by the organiser.
Exclusion clause
The
organisers, jury members, their families, studios or design teams are
expressly forbidden to take part in the competition.
Anonymity
The
work presented must be unsigned. No indications of the originator may
be evident. The identity of the person submitting the work must be kept
in a sealed envelope. The identity may only be revealed after the jury
has made its decision.
Prizes
The prizes and
remuneration must be higher than the fee usually paid if the work had
been directly commissioned. The organiser must set out clearly how many
prizes there are and what their monetary value is. It must also be
clear whether the jury may divide the prizes or their monetary value up
differently, or perhaps even not award them (e.g. in the case of
poor-quality entries).
Care and protection
The organiser must keep the work submitted safe and undamaged while in his care, until it is returned to the sender.
Copyright, patents and use
Participants
in the competition should consider protecting their work, before
submission, by registering for copyright or patents. This can be an
advantage in any negotiations on the use of the design, once a prize
has been awarded. Even if no prize is received, such protection can be
useful when pursuing any unauthorised copying of the design (inspired
by its publication or appearance in an exhibition).
Normally
the organiser has an option to take over the rights to use the
prize-winning designs for a period of three months of the results being
announced. Should the organiser want to do the same with a design that
did not receive a prize, this is only possible after negotiation of an
appropriate fee. Such a situation can arise, e.g. when the organiser
takes a different view to the jury on the results.
Rights
of manufacture or reproduction of the design are always subject to an
additional fee. They are not covered with the awarding of the prize.
Variations,
changes and improvements to the designs are only possible with the
written permission of the originator. Copyright always remains with the
originator.
If it is the intention to actually use the
designs produced for the competition, the creators/submitters of the
winning designs or any other design that is to be used should be
commissioned to realise those designs or further develop them. Should
the submitter/creator not be in a position to do this - whatever the
reason - the jury can then recommend another designer or another team
to do this in conjunction with the winner. Those recommended must not
have any kind of relationship to the jury or the organiser (see also
exclusion from participation).
If the organiser does not
intend to use the results produced for the competition, he has to make
this known when announcing the competition and in the competition
details.
Prize money and announcement of the winners
The
prize money should be paid within one month of the award being
announced. All participants should be informed about who won within two
months after the date of submission.
Exhibition, publication
All
participants in the competition should be informed within two months of
the date of submission, whether the organiser intends to publish or
hold an exhibition of the entries. Participants who did not win a prize
have the right to refuse publication of their work or its inclusion in
an exhibition.
Return of entries
All works
that did not receive an award should be returned within two months of
the deadline for submissions, at the expense of the organiser. In the
case of an exhibition or publication, this date may be extended for up
to twelve months. Other arrangements should be clearly defined in the
competition details. There is no obligation to return non-originals
(e.g. digital print-outs of posters).
Report
If
the competition has the endorsement of one of the three international
federations, the organiser is obliged to publish a report about the
competition, including details of the number of entries, names of the
jury members, names of the winners and commentaries of the jury. This
must then be made available to the international federation.
In the case of restricted competitions (invitation-only), the same rules apply (including with regard to prize money), but with the following additional points:
-
In invitation-only competitions, the designers receive a fee for
submitting their design. This fee must be higher than the fee normally
paid for producing such a commission.
- The names of those taking part must be sent to all participants along with the competition documentation.
-
The organiser must ensure that the briefing and possible dialogue
between the organiser and the participants is equal and fair for all
participants. This must be monitored by an independent person.
The rules also apply to international design competitions for students.
In this case, however, the prize money can be lower. Any use,
reproduction or production of the designs must of course be remunerated
with a fee comparable to that received for professional design
services.
Draw your conclusions
If one of
these requirements is not met - in other words the competition does not
come up to standard - you should not take part. The same applies if the
briefing is unclear, or if an inadequate jury is proposed. Such
competitions are not fair.
A few tips
If it becomes clear, for example, that a competition is being held only
for the publicity purposes of the organiser, the designer should
carefully consider what value any competition success might have
(including prize money), if the work is not then used in any way, and
no additional fee for that use is thereby generated.
Student competitions are a particular favourite with organisers wanting to carry out cheap PR campaigns.
-
With all competitions you should look very carefully at the awards and
prize money on offer. Student competitions in particular, can often be
a way of getting a large number of designs cheaply.
-
Make sure you use your right in good time to refuse publication of your
(non-prize-winning) work, or its inclusion in an exhibition, if you
want to ensure that others don't draw inspiration from and use your
(non-remunerated) ideas in other contexts.
- You have to
distinguish clearly between competitions for professional designers
and/or for design students, and competitions open to everybody,
including schoolchildren. The latter is subject to no professional
standards and professional designers or design students should not take
part in them.
Similar rules apply to regional and national competitions.
In the design competitions described above, the international
regulations for international, global design competitions can be
distilled down for continent-wide and national competitions. For here,
too, all the rules (with the exception of the international composition
of the jury) apply as regards professionalism and fairness.
HELMUT LANGER
About this article
Part 3 was originally published in novum in three segments: issues 09/04, 10/04 and 11/04. The text is re-published with permission.
About Helmut Langer
Helmut Langer was President and member of the board of Icograda from
1987 to 1993. Since 1993, he has been advising as international
competition expert to Icograda and to international organisers of
competitions. Helmut has served as juror at many competitions around
the world. He received many prizes and awards for his design works, but
he no longer takes part in design award schemes, since he is acting as
international competition expert. Beside his design work for
international organisations and companies he is passing on his
experience and know-how as guest professor at various universities
worldwide; currently he is a guest professor at Nagoya University of
Arts in Nagoya/Japan.
Because
of the global concern about raising competition standards, Langer's
'Competition' article is being published world-wide. The article will
be published or has been published in German (NOVUM magazine Germany),
Chinese (PACKAGE & DESIGN, China and DESIGN in Taiwan), Spanish
(several design magazines in Latin America), Korean (DESIGN IN KOREA,
South Korea), Russian (KAK magazine, Russia), Japanese (DESIGNERS'
WORKSHOP magazine, Japan), and in several other magazines and
designers' information services.
About novum
novum - WORLD OF GRAPHIC DESIGN is an international magazine for
communication design (German/English). The first issue was published in
1924 - the magazine celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2004. Each month
novum shows the best works in graphic design, packaging, web
design, advertising, editorial design, illustration and features
special topics like trade fair design, orientation systems, typography,
event design and many others.