ENTRY RULES

• Any designer, IFA member or non-member within Australia, can enter the IFA Design Awards.
• Entries must be for a design completed between 1 October 2023 to 30 April 2025.
• Entries into previous IFA Design Awards programs may not be re-entered.
• Multiple entries are permitted in each category.
• If a minimum of 3 entries has not been received for a category, IFA reserves the right to amalgamate categories, to create a fair judging platform.
• The entrant must be the company or individual responsible for the overall design.
• Any entry submitted by a designer who is employed by a design company accepts that any success in this awards program will, in the first instance, be credited to their employing company. Any entry submitted by a designer engaged by design and construct contractor accepts that any success in this awards program will, in the first instance, be credited to their employing company. Only sole trader designers will be personally credited with any success in this awards program if they are contracting directly to the client.
• All entries, regardless of the category, will go into the running for the National Design of the Year award.

HOW TO ENTER

• Register or login – this will allow you to save your submission and return to Each project entered requires a separate submission.
• Complete the entry form, including Design Brief outlining how the design meets the client’s expectations, Design Statement including how the design met the budget criteria, constraints or changes to meet budget or over budget, images, plans and elevations and any other relevant design information.
• Provide evidence of collaboration with other stakeholders, where Entries must articulate the approach to delivering to the Design Statement.

All entries should include:

• 3 or 4 high-resolution images at 300dpi. Please note: only photos not copyright protected, or those that have an appropriate copyright release, will be To qualify, a photo marked “copyright” or “property of” must be accompanied by a written release of all rights, both digital and print.
• Images of the finished project must be actual photographs – not computer- generated (Computer-generated images may be included in the entry, as long as they are clearly labeled as such). It is recommended that photographs be taken by a professional photographer, as they will be used in the awards presentation and publications.
• A permission letter signed by the client must be uploaded. A Pro Forma letter is included here. This signed letter MUST accompany every entry.
• Any additional information should be uploaded as an attachment.

THE JUDGING PROCESS

• The principal criteria for judging will be based on excellence of the total design
• Our qualified judges will review all entry submissions and evaluate each submission on a pre-determined Judges will rate each entry to determine the finalists and winner in each Award category.
• The judging panel reserves the right to reclassify the entry into another category if deemed appropriate. IFA reserves the right to establish, alter or amend the judging criteria and the decision of the judges will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• The criteria adopted by the judging panel in evaluating each design will be all- encompassing and will be based on – but not limited to – information submitted by the designer, including images and renders, and/or any 3D modeling and consideration of all entry documentation.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

• The entrant is responsible for the collection and accurate reporting of all contributing and represented companies.
• Entries not complying with the competition rules will be disqualified.
• IFA reserves the right to disqualify any entry which does not meet the conditions of entry and the decision of the judging panel will be final with no correspondence entered into.
• Entry materials become the property of IFA and will not be returned.
• Entrants grant IFA permission to use their supplied images for publicity and marketing. It is the responsibility of the entrant to seek their client’s permission to use their images, brand or mark. IFA cannot be held liable.
• All other entry material will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.