Shaping transformation

German Sustainability Award Design.

Design is a key factor of change: Sustainable design contributes significantly to the transformation towards a sustainable society. The new GSA Design awards these contributions and provides orientation for consumers in the search for sustainable alternatives. The design award will be paused in 2023.

GSA Design presented for the third time.

On 1 December 2022, particularly sustainable products, systems and services were awarded the German Sustainability Award Design for the third time. The winners cover all areas of life and offer sustainable alternatives. Honorary awards were presented to Cradle to Cradle founder Prof. Michael Braungart and top model Toni Garrn. The band Reiche Söhne and Leslie Clio accompanied the evening with musical interludes.

The honorary awards of the anniversary year.

H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Cradle to Cradle founder Prof. Michael Braungart, supermodel Toni Garrn, French singer Zaz and singer-songwriter Michael Patrick Kelly were presented with honorary awards on 1 and 2 December 2022.

Shaping transformation -
bold, innovative, effective.

The award for sustainable design was presented for the third time in 2022, the anniversary year of the German Sustainability Award.

Sustainable design provides answers to the most pressing challenges of our time and changes the way of life - users are able to choose sustainability and contribute to transformation. In the foreseeable future, products and services that enable this, will establish themselves. The German Sustainability Award Design recognizes the best solutions in all segments. By design we do not refer solely to the design of physical products,

 

but the development of any conceivable product, system or service. Ideally the development starts with the question of how the result can achieve the greatest possible positive effect for sustainability, and the design and realization are inspired by this. The GSA Design wants to motivate and give good examples a tailwind for their success. The GSA Design can make sustainable design more successful and thus more effective.

After three years the German Sustainability Award for Design is taking a break in 2023. The next application period starts in 2024.

 

Participants

Companies/agencies, designers, students and start ups based (also) in and/or offer products or services in Germany

Solutions

Products, services and systems from all areas of need that are/will be available on the German market

 

Application

The next application period for the German Sustainability Award Design starts in 2024.

Fee

Scaled according to company size from 250 to 950 Euro plus VAT,  discount for multiple applications, participation free of charge for students, junior designers and start-ups.

 

Nomination

Pre-evaluation by assessment team or research; nomination of the best applicants in the summer and preparation of the jury documents

Jury decision

An interdisciplinary jury of experts takes part in a multi-stage process to decide the finalists and winners

Awards ceremony

Awards ceremony as part of the German Sustainability Day in Düsseldorf

Seal

With the seal of the GSA, nominees, finalists and winners can label their sustainable solution.

To the award in two stages.

A transparent nomination and jury evaluation process is used to vet the design quality and sustainable contribution of the submitted solutions.

The company, designer(s) or student(s) must apply to be nominated. The solution and its contribution to sustainable transformation are presented in an online questionnaire using key questions and informative visual materials. The assessment team then evaluates the applications to select the nominees. The nominees stand for exemplary and outstanding sustainability.

 

The basis of the jury's evaluation is the documentation submitted to the jury and the personal assessments of each jury member. Jurors also consider areas of need such as furnishings, nutrition, clothing, mobility, communication and leisure, and determine the finalists. The finalists represent the best of the best, qualified by their outstanding sustainable solutions. The jury then selects the winners from this top pool of applicants, identifying the most effective contributions to sustainable transformation - in short: the best products, services and systems in the competition.

This was the jury 2022.

An independent jury decides on the finalists and winners based on the jury documents, personal expertise of the jurors, and insights from the stakeholder groups they represent. Among others, these were the jurors in 2022:

Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart

Founder EPEA

Dr. Meike Gebhard

CEO Utopia

Dr. Christine Lemaitre

Executive Board DGNB

Prof. Karin-Simone Fuhs

Director of ecosign/Akademie für Gestaltung

Raphael Gielgen

Trendscout Vitra

Dr. Peter Jahns

Management Effizienz-Agentur NRW

Prof. Dr. Christa Liedtke

Department Manager Wuppertal Institut

Prof. Sebastian Feucht

Product designer

Torsten Meyer-Bogya

Chairman of the Board AGD

Mara Michel

Owner futurize & Managing Director VDMD

Thomas Edelmann

Journalist and design critic

Franziska ​von Schumann

Publisher & Chair Stylepark

Dr. Andrea Augsten

Head of Design & Innovation Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Anna-Elisa Jankovics

Dipl. Ing. Architect   Architonic Service GmbH 

Four good reasons to apply.

Participation and success in DNP design sends a strong message, offers opportunities and brings immediate benefits - not just for winners.

Sustainability Day

Free access for participants to the award ceremony (limited contingent)

 

Network

Access to Germany's largest sustainability network

Communication

Nominees, finalists and winners have the opportunity to use the seal to communicate their success both internally and externally

 

Award

Presentation of the finalists and acceptance of the prize statuette by the winners in front of nearly 1,000 guests and members of the press

 

A symbol of sustainability.

With the GSA Design seal, nominees, finalists and winners can demonstrate their leading position in the field of sustainability - to customers, suppliers, media and the financial world. The GSA seal is a prestigious external recognition, identifying pioneers and helping them secure a leading position in the market. The GSA seal is a useful guide for consumers in their search for sustainable alternatives.

Most coveted award of its kind.

According to a recent study by the University of Hohenheim on the importance of sustainability and environmental competitions in Germany, the GSA is both the best-known and most coveted award in this field (ranking first in each case). There are currently around 200 competitions with a focus on sustainability.
Source: University of  Hohenheim, Dr. Beate Gebhardt, 2017

All former winners.

Since 2020, the German Sustainability Award Design has been honouring products, systems and services from companies that are leading the way as good examples of sustainable design. The design solutions provide consumers with orientation in their search for sustainable alternatives and thus make decisive contributions to the change towards a sustainable society.