Last week, Braun announced the details for the 18th edition of their preeminent design awards program, a competition that they've held every three years since 1968. This year sees a couple of notable developments since last time around: for the first time in the history of the BraunPrize, they're opening the field to "design professionals and enthusiasts"—i.e. the general public—instead of just students, who will be judged in a separate category. To this end, the total prize money comes in at $100,000 and they've added a new Sustainability Award.

The jury, this time around, consists of esteemed design innovators Naoto Fukasawa, Jane Fulton Suri and Anne Bergner, led by jury captain Oliver Grabes, Braun's very own Head of Design, who explained further:Our new awards theme is 'Genius design for a better everyday' embracing the high relevance of innovative, well-designed products for everyday life. As ever, we want to support great ideas that lead to innovative, practical, beautiful and intuitive product solutions tailored to everyday needs—the trademarks of Braun's influential design process. We want to ensure that the BraunPrize not only provides a showcase to those design students and professionals who want to pursue a career in design, but that it also encourages design enthusiasts outside of an academic context to enter.

Top, L to R: Naoto Fukasawa, Jane Fulton Suri, Anne Bergner; Bottom, L to R: Oliver Grabes, Dirk Freund (Director of Braun R&D)

Registration for the BraunPrize opens this Saturday, October 1, and they will be accepting submissions for six months, until March 31, 2012; winners will be announced at the "lavish BraunPrize Ceremony on September 26, 2012, in Kronberg, Germany." Once again, Braun has the blessing of icsid, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, who will support and endorse the 2012 BraunPrize.

Learn more here.

2009 Winner Clam I OLED Lamp by Johanna Schoemaker