The European Design Awards (ED-Awards) are officially accepting submissions for their 2026 edition, inviting designers, studios, agencies, and creative teams from across Europe to submit projects that reflect the evolving practice of European design.
The submission deadline is 13 February 2026.
For the 2026 edition, the European Design Awards are introducing a refreshed and expanded category structure, following the most extensive review process in the competition’s twenty-year history. This revision is part of the organisation’s ongoing effort to remain closely aligned with contemporary design practice and to respond meaningfully to the needs of the European design community.
The updated category framework is the result of a wide-ranging consultation process, including detailed feedback from past participants, jury members, and partners; a series of one-on-one conversations with designers, educators, editors, and studio founders across Europe; as well as an in-depth analysis of current and emerging developments within the industry. The outcome is a clearer, more precise, and more flexible category system, designed to better reflect how design work is conceived, produced, and applied today.
New categories have been introduced in areas such as motion design, emerging technologies, verbal identity, and complete branding systems, while several existing categories have been refined to reduce ambiguity and overlap. At the same time, the competition’s long-standing and established categories have been retained, ensuring continuity while allowing greater room for hybrid and multidisciplinary work.
“While the original structure served us well for many years, design as a discipline does not stand still — and neither should we,” said Demetrios Fakinos, Director of the European Design Awards. “Our aim is to offer categories that are not only fair and accurate for the purposes of judging, but also genuinely useful for designers themselves, helping them present the scope and nature of their work in the most appropriate context.”
The European Design Awards 2026 will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the European Design Festival will be held from 12 to 14 June 2026, in collaboration with Studio Komplekt. The festival will run in parallel with the International Council of Design Regional Conference, further strengthening Sofia’s role as a key meeting point for the European and international design community.
More information about the festival is available HERE.
