Record lineup for 2011 Australian design awards

The car industry is well represented in this year’s annual Australian International Design Awards, which have attracted a record 232 entries across a wide range of industries.

In an internationally recognised competition that seeks to recognise and reward outstanding industrial design, the car industry plays a big part with participation from local manufacturers as well as importers.

The Australian International Design Awards accepts entries across nine categories including Automotive and Transport, Consumer, Business and Technology, Medical and Scientific, Sport and Leisure, Housing and Building, Heavy Machinery, Architectural and Interior Products, and Student.

Designers, manufacturers and distributors of professionally designed products and services available on the Australian market are eligible to participate.

Included in the “Automotive and Transport” submissions for 2011 are Peugeot, with its new RCZ Coupe and 3008 SUV, Hyundai with its new Elantra (expected to be named i35 when introduced here around mid-year) and i20, Kia with its Optima and Sportage CDI models, Audi with its A7 Sportback and Ford, with its new 2011 Ranger LCV.

Submissions for the awards list features and benefits of the products put forward, including, in the case of Peugeot’s 3008 for example, new and original technologies, architecture, safety, quality and eco-efficiency.

Announcing the submissions for the 2011 awards, Brandon Gien, who is managing director of Good Design Australia, a new international design promotion organisation established to take over custodianship of the Australian International Design Awards, said: “With the cost of electricity and petrol prices continuing to soar, it is heartening to see many of the products focussing on sustainable design, be it in the material they are manufactured from to the energy they consume during use, to the consideration given to the end of life of the product.”

Past winners of the Australian International Design Awards include Qantas for the A380 Economy Seat (2009), Hyundai for the i45 luxury five-seat sedan (2010) and last year’s top prize winner, Howard Wright for the M8 Intensive Care hospital bed.

The final round of assessments for the 2011 awards will be held between May 16 and May 22, and finalists will be notified on Friday May 27.

The presentation ceremony will be held in Melbourne on Friday July 22 as part of the Victorian State of Design Festival, with all finalists being exhibited to the general public for the first time ever.

The Australian International Design Awards date back to 1958 and were established by the Industrial Design Council of Australia. The entry criteria was expanded in 2007 to embrace all professionally designed products available on the Australian market, the same year the name was changed from Australian Design Awards to Australian International Design Awards.

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