Winners of the 2025 GOOD DESIGN SPECIAL AWARDS, including the GOOD DESIGN AWARD and GRAND AWARD, have been decided! The winners will be announced on October 15

This year, the GOLD AWARDS = the top place in each category

At last, the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2025, which began in April, has entered its final stage.

At the Second Screening Panel held at Makuhari Messe from August 6 to 8, 100 particularly excellent designs were selected from among the award winning objects to be the GOOD DESIGN BEST 100.

Our topic this time is the screening which takes place to select the winners of the SPECIAL AWARDS, such as the GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD, GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD and GOOD FOCUS AWARD, from among the BEST 100.

Until last year, the GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD was decided by a vote among the judges and the winners, and the Grand Award Selection was held and the winner announced at the celebration event in November. Starting from this year, though, the GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD winner will be decided at the Special Awards Panel meeting. In addition, the GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD system has been changed to choosing one design from each category. The GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD will then be selected from among these 20 GOLD AWARD winners.

This new selection method enables the judges who are experts on each category to make their evaluations based on their deep understanding of the target area, resulting in a more accurate and convincing selection. In addition, by selecting the one best design in each category, the appeal and value of diverse designs are evaluated fairly.

The final presentations for the SPECIAL AWARDS selection

The Special Awards Panel began with presentations by the BEST 100 winners.

The GOOD DESIGN BEST 100 Presentation Screening One representative of each BEST 100 winner gives a presentation on their winning design, using projected materials and sharing their screen. The presentation time is four minutes plus two minutes for Q & A, a total of six minutes. The BEST 100 Presentation Screening is carried out by the chair and vice- chairs of the judging committee and each unit leader (20 members). The award winning objects are divided into five rooms, with four or five judges per room listening to the presentations. *The division is carried out so that the judges for the unit to which each entrant applied can listen to their presentation. There is also a time set aside for all the judges to come together and listen to the presentations.

Throughout the presentations, effective use of images and materials in the limited amount of time could be observed, as well as many ingenious ways to convey their message clearly and accurately to the judges.

In the Q & A session after the presentation,

there were many questions about the “design values and process” and the “future development and potential” of the award winning objects, such as:

・The context in which the design was born ・Why a particular kind of material was chosen, and its future potential ・Points which were difficult or required effort when designing it ・The originality of the design and its degree of precision ・The direction for further development in order to attain the desired form or improve the design further ・Concrete methods for disseminating the design more widely in the world.

A variety of staff were also deployed to ensure the smooth running of the presentation screening, which took place online. An operational structure to support overseas winners was in place, such as accompaniment by interpreters to help them communicate with the judges.

After a serious discussion from every angle, the SPECIAL AWARD winners were finally decided!

After the presentations by the BEST 100 winners, which started early in the morning, the Special Awards Panel screening began. The impassioned discussion continued late into the night, with the aim of reaching a conclusion acceptable to all the judges.

The Special Awards Panel The SPECIAL AWARDS are selected through discussions among the chair and vice-chairs of the judging committee and each unit leader. First, 20 GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD winners are selected from among the BEST 100, followed by 1 GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD winner. Next, the remaining 80 designs are divided into 4 categories, and up to 3 GOOD FOCUS AWARD winners are chosen from each.

Judges share the contents of the presentations to which they each listened with all the others. This allows judges in other categories to discuss and vote from multiple perspectives while maintaining the fairness of the evaluation process.

During the discussion, the judges from the unit to which the award winning objects belong also give supplementary explanations on the merits of the design from their expert perspective.

The three Focused Issues researchers also participate as observers. They analyze and consider trends seen in this year’s designs while listening to the presentations by the winners and discussions among the judges.

At the end of the 10-hour screening, Chairperson Saito said, “The GOOD DESIGN AWARD is a place where everyone takes time to discuss the designs at length,” and added, “In recent years, it has become mainstream to understand objects and concepts without separating them, and so the definition of design is expanding year by year.”

“That’s why we as judges have redefined some kind of shifting design boundary within ourselves every year, but this year it came out in a more clearly-defined form than in previous years,” he reflected.

He also said, “This year, we were able to shine a light on and evaluate not only new designs but also mature designs that have undergone a process of repeated trial and error and have arrived at their current forms after drastic changes,” and summarized this year’s screening by saying, “We chose award winning objects worthy of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD, and were able to have in-depth discussions typical of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD.”

GOOD DESIGN AWARD winners will be announced on October 15!

At last, the time for announcing the award winners is almost here! On October 15,

the results of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD, GOOD DESIGN BEST 100, and GOOD DESIGN SPECIAL AWARDS (GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD, GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD, GOOD FOCUS AWARD)

will be announced. After this, the GOOD DESIGN AWARD winners’ exhibition “GOOD DESIGN EXHIBITION 2025” will be held from November 1.

Please see the GOOD DESIGN AWARD official website for a detailed schedule and after winning an award.