Calling all designers—the Core77 Design Awards will be returning and open for entry starting on Thursday, January 7, 2021! After 10 years of awarding excellent design work, the Core77 Design Awards continues to champion the principles of inclusivity, innovation, and excellence. Our annual collection of awarded projects have solidified the awards as a showcase of groundbreaking design over the years, granting awards to successful products such as the Google Pixel Buds, Nest Thermostat, the Biolite Stove, the Oculus Rift VR Headset and much more.

In recognition of the broad spectrum of the design field, our Awards program offers 18 distinct categories, each further broken into dedicated sections for professionals and students. Each category is judged by esteemed Jury Captains and their chosen team members, which grants designers the opportunity to present their work to the best of the best in their respective fields. Past Core77 Design Awards Jury Captains have included industry leaders such as Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, OCD co-founder & 2016 Hillary for America Design Director Jennifer Kinon, Pentagram partner Eddie Opara, Project H founder Emily Pilloton, LAYER design lead Benjamin Hubert, and many more.

Here are just a few of the projects that took home awards last year that can serve as inspiration for your entry this year:

Slack Headquarters

While we all barely had to spend any time at all in our offices this year—and perhaps some feel thankful for that—Slack Headquarters made a space we imagine their employees won't feel reluctant to come back to. Architecture firm Studio O + A were honored as the Professional Winner in the Built Environment category for their design of Slack's HQ, which was designed to evoke a similar feeling to an exhilarating and contemplative hike in the wilderness.

Cheer Project: From Earth to Earth

There are many projects nowadays where the adoption of the term "circular economy" is at best skin-deep. When student Gaurav MK Wali developed Cheer Project during his time at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kangra, the designer clearly had the intent of making sure from concept to production, circular economy was a core tenet of the project. 'Cheer Project', the 2020 Student Winner in the Design for Social Impact category is a research project focused on pine needles. This natural material can be found in abundance within the forest of Himachal Pradesh in India, and directly contributes to forest fires in the region. Wali's project utilizes these pine needles to develop a 100% bio-based and compostable composite material that was then used to produce a series of home accessories.

Persuasive Electric Vehicle

The Persuasive Electric Vehicle (PEV), our 2020 Professional Winner in the Transportation category, is a form of transportation meant as a last-mile mobility solution. The electric tricycle is designed to be multifunctional as both as an autonomous vehicle as well as a manual one for pedestrian commutes. PEV is meant to improve on the less-than-perfect bike sharing model that exists in abundance today—it is connected to an app, and the vehicle can even be hailed directly to your location autonomously.

Pairish Food Waste Intervention

Ever worry about your own personal contribution to global food waste? So has designer Sophia Rowland. That's why Rowland designed 2019 Packaging Student winning project Pairish, a line of offerings that provide an easy solution use those leftover vegetables that may otherwise go to waste. If users know they'll be unable to finish their produce, they can simply add the vegetables to a mason jar with vinegar and a Picklish packet to create a tasty pickled snack. The Smoothish line works to the same effect: chop up blemished or aging fruits, add smoothie boost power and blend. The app allows you to track 'best used by' dates and even suggests an appropriate date to shift produce over to the freezer.

REAL Immersive System

Although studies show that VR could be a great rehabilitation tool when it comes to building neural pathways in patients who have experienced strokes, companies had yet to develop a tool for that very purpose until the REAL Immersive System, our 2020 Professional Winner in the Health & Wellness category. The system utilizes similar tactics to game design to encourage patients to engage in physical activities targeting neural stimuli to improve movement. Different thoughtful elements of the design, including the form of the headset, electromagnetic sensors, and more make this not just a good idea, but a top-quality design.

i'mnot: Musical Instruments for Non-Musicians

ArtCenter College of Design student Peggy Mingyuan Li developed a clever subscription service for those of us who have an interest in experimenting with music but don't have the advanced chops that landed her the 2020 Student Winner award in the Consumer Technology and Sports & Recreation categories. Called "i'mnot", the set includes a DJ mixer, theremin, piano, violin (pictured above), a water phone, a xylophone and a Chinese erhu.

Mark your calendars! The awards launch on Thursday, January 7th, 2021. Want to stay up to date on awards announcements and impending deadlines? Sign up for our newsletter to never miss a beat on 2021 Core77 Design Awards news.