GDC Award runs every other year to praise and recommend the best designs with an aim to encourage creative designers since its foundation in 1992. Attracting designers from all over the world, GDC developed from “a top design award among Chinese designers” to “one of the most important global design awards”.
GDC Award is more than an award, but a design community that is full of creativity and continuous improvement. Through a two-year series of activities such as competitions, exhibitions, lectures, interviews, etc., GDC Award gathers top designers together to explore the value of design and promote the concepts of design.
GDC is curated and operated by Shenzhen Graphic Design Association (SGDA), a non-profit professional design association. SGDA expects GDC to continuously discover and motivate new creative forces, making efforts to shape a fairer and more sustainable future. The SGDA Council, which is elected every two years, is responsible for the operation and management of GDC.
Following its original aspiration “Design for China’s Future” established in 1992, GDC Award 2021 will gather top global designers, keep pace with transformation of the society and the time, present state-of-the-art design thinking and methods, respond to the rise of new design force, comprehensively promote the collision of design and culture, life, business and technology, establish a value benchmark for contemporary design, and reveal the development trend of future design.
GDC Award 2021 will recognize excellent designs that respond to the following four aspects:
1. Visual exploration: abide by the essence of design to explore forward-looking, experimental visual languages
2. Social concern: respond to social issues and propose new solutions
3.Commercial promotion: create more imaginative business scenarios for the consumer market
4. Technology integration: embrace technological progress, and practice new design thinking, paths and methods.
GDC | Call-Up
GDC | Show
GDC | Forum
GDC | Ceremony
GDC | Exhibition
GDC | Global Exhibition Tour
According to the GDC Award 2021 evaluation criteria, the jury panel will select the following awards:
For Professionals only
The jury panel will select one Grand Prix, the most forward-looking and innovative work among the Gold Award works in the group of professionals. The Grand Prix winner will be granted with the Black Bamboo Trophy, the highest honor of GDC, as well as a certificate of award.
Professionals/ Students
The jury panel will select GDC Gold, Silver, and Bronze Award for each category from Selected Award works. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Award winners will be granted with a Gold, Silver, and Bronze Bamboo Trophy respectively, and a certificate of award.
-All Gold Award works in the group of professionals are in the line to the Grand Prix.
Professionals/ Students
Each judge will grant a Jury Award to one piece of his or her most-recognized work. The Jury Award winners will receive a certificate of award.
Professionals/ Students
The jury panel will select the works of great creation, performance and completeness as the Selected Award works. The winners will receive a certificate of award.
-GDC Grand Prix, Gold Award, Silver Award, Bronze Award and Jury Award will be chosen among the Selected Award works.
Professionals/ Students | Excellent Organization
GDC Organizing Committee will grand Excellent Organization Award to colleges, universities, industry associations, creative parks and other institutions that have performed outstandingly in the organization of this campaign. The winners will receive a certificate of award.
Students | Mentors of award-winning students
Mentors of student winners of GDC Gold, Silver, Bronze Award and Jury Award will be granted with the GDC Excellent Mentor Award Certificate.
-The two rounds of the GDC Award 2021 review will be conducted both on-site and online due to the pandemic. The preliminary review will be conducted online, which will only require the soft copies of works. The shortlist will be announced afterwards, and the physical works shall be submitted for the final round of review which will be conducted both on-site and online.
- GDC Award 2021 jury panel will consist of 40 professionals with global influences in the field of design. They will evaluate all eligible works and select award-winning ones. The selection process will be fully subject to the jury panel to reach the most authoritative judgment. The jury panel has the right to decide and adjust the category of the entries. No award-winner is guaranteed under every single category.
- Except GDC Selected Award winners, all other award-winners will be invited to receive awards at GDC Award Ceremony held in December 2021 in Shenzhen. All awarded works will be exhibited in GDC 2021 Award-winning Works Exhibition and published in the Yearbook of GDC Award 2021.
- In order to ensure the overall effect of on-site review and exhibition, all award-winners are required to deliver the physical award-winning work to the designated address.
Due to the impact of pandemic, the jury panel will carry out the preliminary review on line. They will evaluate all eligible works and choose Selected Award works (the finalists for the final round) by the evaluation criteria of GDC Award 2021. It is recommended that all participants shall submit materials for online display, including 1-10 pictures for each project. Pictures shall not be larger than 5M in RGB mode and JPG format. It is also recommended to submit videos not larger than150M for the convenience of online review.
Those who enter into the final round shall deliver physical works to the designated address in accordance with the requirements of the organizing committee for on-site review. The jury panel will select award-winning works among eligible entries according to the GDC Design Award 2021 evaluation criteria.
a-1 Logo
a-2 Campaign Branding
a-3 Brand Identity
a-4 Promotional
b-1 Sales Package
b-2 Limited Edition Package
b-3 Cultural and Creative Product
c-1 Book
c-2 Album & Newspaper & Magazine
c-3 Conceptual Publication
d-1 Commercial Poster
d-2 Social Issues Poster
d-3 Cultural Poster
e-1 Typeface Design
e-2 Characters / Glyphs Design
e-3 Type Experience
f-1 Illustration
f-2 Identity & Mascot
f-3 Infographics
g-2 Environmental Graphic
h-1 Dynamic Logo
h-2 Dynamic Poster
h-3 Movie, Video Intro & Animated Short Film
h-4 Website & UI
h-5 Interactive Installation
h-6 Information Visualization
i-1 Brand Integration
i-2 Social Practice of Design
- The submitted works of the mixed category must include a bilingual proposal in Chinese and English for the jury to better understand the work. A 3-minute video not larger than 150M (mp4 or mov format) is recommended.
- Global professional designers and design institutions are eligible.
- All entries must be created between September 1, 2019 and October 1, 2021.
- Entries may be submitted by companies or individuals that have the authorship of the work.
- Undergraduates, graduate students, students within continuous education programs and designers graduated in last two years (after June 2019) are all eligible.
- All entries must be created between September 1, 2019 and October 1, 2021.
- Students’ works will be evaluated separately from the professionals’, but with the same criteria, under the same categories, and by the same jury panel as that of professionals.
Note*
- The number of submitted works is not limited and is subject to participants.
- Any works that is involved by any member of GDC Award 2021 jury panel is not eligible.
- Works shall be created between September 1, 2019 and October 1, 2021.
- It opens for students, designers and design institutions around the world.
- Please visit GDC Award official website gdc.sgda.cc for more information.
GDC Award 2021 is evaluated by two groups, professionals and students. Please decide to participate in the competition either as a professional or as a student.
-There are 9 categories of GDC Design Award 2021. Please read through the campaign information and choose an appropriate category for your work.
- Please login GDC Award official website gdc.sgda.cc
- Sign up for your exclusive GDC account with a valid e-mail address.
- The GDC accounts that registered previously are still in valid.
- Login your GDC account after registration, go to your GDC account management page and click the category that you want to participate in.
- After clicking the category, please fill in detailed information of your works online (name of the work, creative summary etc.)
- You may click the button to add your other entries
- Submit 1-10 pictures for each project. Pictures shall not be larger than 5M in RGB mode and JPG format. A video not larger than150M is recommended (optional).
- Please fill in a bilingual summary within 500 characters in Chinese and English for the jury to better understand your works.
Please choose the payment channel after you confirm your entry information.
Online payment channels for participants in mainland China:
Alipay, WeChat
Online payment channel for participants in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas regions:
GDC PayPal account: info@sgda.cc
Please follow us by the following ways for the updated information GDC Award 2021:
Website: gdc.sgda.cc
WeChat account: GDC-1992
Facebook: ChinaGDCAward
Instagram: gdc_award
If your work wins an award, we will contact you by e-mail in time. Please do not call for result enquiry.
The deadline for registration of GDC Award 2021 is by 24:00 on September 30, 2021. The website system will be closed automatically after that.
May 15-June 15, 2021
June 16-August 29, 2021
August 30-September 30, 2021
October 1-10, 2021
October 15, 2021
November 12-13, 2021
November 14, 2021
December 11, 2021
-The result of GDC Award 2021 Selected Awards(finalists) will be announced on October 15, 2021 through the official website and our cooperation media.
-The result of Jury Award, Gold, Silver, Bronze Award, and Grand Prix will be announced at GDC Award 2021 Award Ceremony on December 11, 2021 in Shenzhen.
-All award-winning works will be exhibited from December 11, 2021 to January 15, 2022 in Shenzhen, China.
--The organizing committee will not return the soft copy and physical materials of all entries. Thank you for your understanding.
Singe piece |
Series |
|||||
Professionals |
Early bird period |
Regular entry period |
Final period |
Early bird period |
Regular entry period |
Final period |
SGDA Member (RMB) |
150 | 200 | 300 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
Nonmember (RMB) |
200 | 250 | 350 | 350 | 450 | 550 |
Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan & overseas regions (USD) |
30 | 40 | 55 | 55 | 70 | 85 |
Students |
||||||
Mainland China (RMB) |
60 | 80 | 100 | 100 | 150 | 180 |
Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan & overseas regions (USD) |
10 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 23 | 28 |
Note* Works of category I-Mixed shall be charged by series.
Online payment channels for participants in mainland China:
Alipay, WeChat
Online payment channel for participants in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas regions (same account for offline payment):
GDC PayPal account: info@sgda.cc
Note*
- Your list of entries will be your payment receipt and no other receipts will be provided by GDC.
- For the sake of the interests of all participants, if GDC has not received all fees of your entries by Sep 30, 2021, your works will not be eligible for award selection due to the uncompleted registration process.
Print Entriy Labels
- After receiving the notice of being selected into the final round, you can log in to the member center on the website to print the label page, list of your works, the labels of each work and the outer packaging labels.
Packaging
-Single Parcel
Please mount your works as per requirement. Then put your works together with list of entries into a sealed parcel. Please attach the packaging label with a QR code on the external surface of your parcel.
-Multiple Parcels
If you send more than one parcel, please mark every parcel in the designated position (serial number such as 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 for unified classification, or use the name of designer, name of work and other identification information, etc.). Please put your mounted works and list of entries into your first parcel. Please attach the packaging label with a QR code on the external surface of your parcel.
* The GDC Award 2021 packaging label shall be attached to the external surface of the parcel, which ensures your package arrive at the GDC Award Organizing Committee in good condition.
-Participants in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan or overseas
Please pack your works by single parcel or multiple parcel as per instruction.
Please write down the following message on the surface of each parcel:
international competition material – no commercial value – tax free recipient address – bill to shipper
GDC Award Organizing Committee shall not bear any extra freight fee or custom duties or taxes arising from incomplete information on the parcel.
Shenzhen Graphic Design Association Secretariat
Address: Room 208, Building A2, Wanli Industrial Zone, Nantoucheng Community, Nantou Street, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, postcode 518052
Tel: +86-755-8860 6391
Recipient: Xiao Feng, Lin Chuwei
Campagin enquiry
Email: gdc@sgda.cc
Phone: +86-755-88606391
Contact: Xiao Feng, Lin Chuwei
A Brand Image
a-1 Brand Icon
Submission requirements:
The submitted works must be printed (manuscript unacceptable). The size of the work shall be 290mmX420mm. Each piece of work shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of black board. A series entry consists of 2-10 pieces of work ( Please paste the entry label at lower right corner on the back of each piece of board. For the same series, please mount your works in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified. )
a-2Actvitiy and Visual Identity
a-3 Brand and Visual Identity
a-4Promotion
Submission requirements:
Please submit at least 5 objects or pictures. Small objects shall be submitted in a big envelope or a transparent plastic cover. Submitted pictures shall be printed (manuscript unacceptable) in size of 290mmX420mm. Submitted pictures shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of the board. Each piece of work shall have maximum 10 pieces of board to demonstrate effects and description. (All mounting boards shall be stuck with corresponding labels at lower right corner in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified.)
B Package
b-1 Sales Package
b-2 Limited Edition Package
b-3 Cultural and Creative Product
Submission requirements:
The maximum side length of the submitted object shall not be greater than 1m. Print out the entry label and paste it on the bottom of the submitted object. For oversize objects, printed pictures (manuscript unacceptable) shall be submitted instead of the physical object. The printed picture in size of 290mmX420mm shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of the board. Each piece of work shall have maximum 3 pieces of board to demonstrate effects and description. (All mounting boards shall be stuck with corresponding labels at lower right corner in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified.)
C Publication
c-1 Book
c-2 Album, Newspaper, Magazine
c-3Conceptual Publication
Submission requirements:
Only printed products are acceptable. No mounting is required. A series entry consists of 2 to 4 pieces of work. Please paste the printed entry label at lower right corner on the back of the submitted product.
D Poster
d-1 Commercial Poster
d-2Public Benefit Poster
d-3Cultural Poster
Submission requirements:
Only printed posters are acceptable. No mounting is required. The size of poster is 364mmX515mm at minimum and 1200X1800mm at maximum. A series entry shall consist of 6 pieces of work maximumly. Please paste the printed entry label at lower right corner on the back of the submitted poster. Each piece of a series entry shall be stuck with corresponding label at the lower right corner of the reverse side. Works that fail to meet the size requirement will be disqualified.
E Typography
e-1 Font Library(Body Font, Headings Font)
Submission requirements:
The submitted fonts shall be applicable body fonts or headings fonts for book, newspaper, magazine, screen and other media. Formation, shadowing or other effects done to the existing computer fonts are not acceptable. Horizontal (vertical) paragraph layout effects with different font sizes are required. Only printed works are accepted. The size of the work (vertical) shall be 700mmX1000mm. Please paste the printed entry label on the back of the submitted works. A series entry shall consist of 4 pieces of work maximally. Each piece of work shall be stuck with corresponding label at the lower right corner of the reverse side. Works that fail to meet the size requirement will be disqualified.
Note * For category A-6-1 Font Library, at least 60 different Chinese characters are required. Characters applicable for Latin typeface: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890*&$%@#!?.,:;"-'/ (78 characters in total).
e-2 Creative Font
Submission requirements:
Please submit printed pictures (manuscript unacceptable) in a size of 290mmX420mm. The submitted pictures shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of the board. Each piece of work shall have maximum 4 pieces of board to demonstrate effects and description. (Please paste the entry label at lower right corner on the back of each piece of board. Please mount your works in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified.)
For the sake of presentation effect, one may print his or her work vertically on a 700mmX1000mm paper without mounting. Please print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side.
e-3Experimental Font
Submission requirements:
Please submit printed pictures (manuscript unacceptable) in a size of 290mmX420mm. The submitted pictures shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of the board. Each piece of work shall have maximum 4 pieces of board to demonstrate effects and description. (Please paste the entry label at lower right corner on the back of each piece of board. Please mount your works in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified.)
For the sake of presentation effect, one may print his or her work vertically on a 700mmX1000mm paper without mounting. Please print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side.
F Illustration
f-1 Illustration
f-2 IP IP Image, Mascot
f-3 Infographics
Submission requirements:
Please submit printed pictures (manuscript unacceptable) in a size of 290mmX420mm. The submitted pictures shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of the board. A series entry consists of 2 to 10 pieces of work. (Please paste the entry label at lower right corner on the back of each piece of board. Please mount your works in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified.)
G Environmental Graphic
g-1 Sign System
g-2 Space Graphics
Submission requirements:
Please submit printed pictures (manuscript unacceptable) in a size of 290mmX420mm. The submitted pictures shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of the board. Each piece of work shall have maximum 10 pieces of board to demonstrate effects and description. (Please paste the entry label at lower right corner on the back of each piece of board. Please mount your works in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified.)
H RGB
h-1 Dynamic Logo
h-2 Dynamic Poster
h-3 Movie, Video Intro & Animated Short Film
h-4 Website & Interface
h-5 Multi-media Interactive Installation
h-6 Information Visualization
Submission requirements:
Please submit key screenshots of the submitted work as well. The screenshots shall be printed on a paper of 290mmX420mm and mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of black board. Each piece of work shall have maximum 5 pieces of board to demonstrate effects and description. ( Please paste the entry label at lower right corner on the back of each piece of board. Please mount your works in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified. )
I Mixed
i-1Overall Branding
i-2Social Practice of Design
Submission requirements:
In addition to the electronic files, the physical objects or pictures (at least 5 items) of the entries must be submitted. All small physical items of a same entry should be submitted in a large envelope or transparent plastic bag. Please submit printed pictures (manuscript unacceptable) in a size of 290mmX420mm. The submitted pictures shall be mounted on the center of a black KT board or a black card board in size of 380mm×510mm. Print out the entry label and paste it at the lower right corner of the reverse side of the board. Each piece of work shall have maximum 10 pieces of board to demonstrate effects and description. (Please paste the entry label at lower right corner on the back of each piece of board. Please mount your works in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. Works with incorrect mounting will be disqualified.)
-The participants hereby agree and authorize the GDC Award 2021 Organizing Committee to use, copy, reproduce or publish all submitted designs of any size (including but not limited to the following types: drawing, photographic photo, image, source file, draft, text, slide, physical items or digital material) without charging any cost, patent fee or remuneration after the GDC Award 2021 Organizing Committee accepts their entries; the GDC Award 2021 Organizing Committee will use the said designs in the related professional activities and promotions.
- All the entries submitted by the participants must be created by the participants themselves (or the group) for which they should have the full right to authorship. The GDC Award 2021 Organizing Committee will cancel the participants’ qualification for this competition and the participants shall assume any and all consequences therefore in case any dispute on the intellectual property right or the right to authorship related to the entries occurs.
- All disputes on the copyright or the intellectual property right arising from the entries of the entrants have nothing to do with the GDC Design Award 2021 Organizing Committee.
-The GDC Design Award 2021 Organizing Committee has the right to exhibit, publish (including electronic publishing) and collect the selected works.
-In no event shall the GDC Design Award 2021 Organizing Committee be responsible for any loss of or damage to any entry.
-The GDC Design Award 2021 Organizing Committee doesn’t provide any delivery or return service for the entries, and hence no shipping charges, duties and etc. arising therefrom shall be borne by it.
-All delivered works will be collected by the GDC Award 2021 Organizing Committee and will not be returned.
- The GDC Award 2021 Organizing Committee reserves the right of final interpretation for any doubts on the rules of this competition.
- The GDC Award 2021 Organizing Committee will further formulate the rules for and interpret any unmentioned matters related to this competition.