What To Enter

This section is about the specific things that an entrant needs to provide or do, to successfully complete a submission to the Spark Design Awards. Please note that different design areas and disciplines sometimes have different requirements, so please review these notes carefully.

To enter, please follow these steps carefully:

1. First REGISTER HERE. Any number of entries may be made with one registration. Make sure to write down your Username and Password and keep it in a secure place. (Special note to South Korean entrants: please note that all Spark emails are blocked by Naver, Nate and Hanmail. Do not register with these addresses, because we cannot communicate with you– for example, to tell you that you won! Use another service—Hotmail, Gmail and others are free and work fine.)

2. Submit your design entries. The competitions are ONLINE only. No shipments to Spark! Each submission is made at your registration page. You may enter as many pieces as you would like, but only one design or series per submission. You may enter any design(s) from year 2000 to date. You may enter multiple times, if you feel it fits in more than one area.  If you wish to submit the exact same design in another category, inquire for our discount code for the additional entries (must be identical to the first entry). You may enter work that was submitted in past years. (Because our juries change from year to year, fresh eyes are on the work.) All registrations and submissions are made online. Sorry, but there are no exceptions. Where the upload form asks for Designer or Team Leader name, some people want to emphasize their whole team. In that case, write “Design Team” in those fields. Then, put all your team members into space on the form provided for additional team members. If you are a Spark Winner or Finalist, we will be happy to list all team members in subsequent materials and certificates (if they all fit), after the competition closes.

3. Make the entry fee payment. (If you have multiple entries, you can save re-entering credit-card info by contacting us to make a single, total payment. Send a note to alert us on the Contact Form. We accept the following credit cards: VISA, American Express, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club and Discover.  After initial registration, log in to your registration page, where you’ll see the option to enter your payment information via credit card. If you are from the USA and time allows, you may pay by check. In that case, again, please notify us to expect it. Overseas entrants may also wish to make payments via Paypal or bank wire (with a small service charge)–please inquire for details. After receiving payment, your status will be marked as “paid and approved.” If you choose an alternative payment method, make sure to allow ample time for it to clear the banks and/or shipment. No designs are judged without pre-payment.

4. Entrants will initially upload at least three (One (1) MB maximum size each) images of their work for Phase 1. As many as 10 images may be uploaded. They may be photos of the work, slides or graphics from a Powerpoint, charts, graphs, certifications, etc.—whatever helps tell your story. It is advantageous to include an image with the design in context to its users–for example, a person in the structure, or holding the product.  Spark also encourages you to add a photo of your designer or team—make it your last image. The images should be 8 inches (200mm) in height or more at a resolution of 150 dpi. (Please make one image in 300 dpi resolution). The images may be portrait or landscape. They must be a JPG file and all image files should be RGB. At least one of the images must be completely free of any text, call-out lines, boxes or blurbs, and ideally, float on a white background.

5. Entrants will also supply a 75-word, short description (synopsis), a longer 250-word description and answer a series of questions about the design (see below). All entry descriptions must be in English. We recommend a straight, non-sales, non-marketing, non-PR description of your design’s merits, applicability and cognizance of our Criteria. Spark reserves the right to edit these descriptions (and the images) for clarity and/or reasonable standards of good taste.

6. It will be useful to the judges if you can answer some, or all, of the questions below, which are found on the entry online form. Please answer as clearly and as briefly as possible. 50 words maximum response each. Just the facts, please—no sales or PR or designer self-promotion. Jurors do not approve. And they do read your answers!

• Why should this design exist? What was the perceived need?
• What is the design brief, challenge or problem to be solved?
• Tell us about your strategy or process. How did you develop the design or user/client solution?
• What is innovative about the design?
• What is the context of your work? An important aspect of sustainability is how the design fits into the situation.
• What results, effectiveness or benefits does it deliver?
• What makes your design compelling? Does it tell a story?
• How does your design enhance the quality of life, or improve the human condition?
• Target market or user?
• Price/cost range?
• Do you have verified or certified statistics or performance data? What is the verification authority?

Always Include the Essentials:
Project Objective
Project Results
Project Background

WEBSITE Do you have a website or page that tells the story of your design or includes more data, photos, etc about it? Then be sure to include its URL in the field provided on the upload form.

VIDEO We now require that you submit a short video to help tell the story of your design. Again, we recommend a straight, non-sales, non-marketing, non-PR description of your design’s merits, applicability and cognizance of our Criteria. You will find a field on the entry form for a Youtube video link. (Sorry, only Youtube links are allowed. NO Vimeo, et al.) Please keep it short and factual. It can be up to three minutes in length. To embed a YouTube video with your entry, simply click the “Share” button below your YouTube video, and copy and paste the YouTube URL into the box provided in your entry form. The Youtube URL should look similar to this: http://youtu.be/1D_YL9LwKnc

NO MORE SHIPMENTS The Spark Advisory Board decided that shipping materials around the world—and back again, is just not sustainable practice. So we’ve stopped judging any physical pieces. Now the entry process is very simple: you register, then upload  your images, youtube and description. Do NOT send actual products or artifacts. The Spark Jury Chairs review all the work and choose Finalists (the Shortlist) to be included in the second phase of live judging.

LEGAL NOTES All entrants agree to the Terms and Conditions found in their entry form at the Spark Registration site. This includes your explicit permission to contact you regarding Spark information via email. By entering this competition, you and your company affirm that your entry is original and does not infringe upon the rights of any person or entity. The Spark Awards are not liable for any copyright or trademark infringement on the part of the entrant. Spark entrants are advised and required to obtain third party consents where required by law or by best ethical practices. If a dispute takes place, all legal expenses will be born by the entrant, and any winning entry is subject to losing the award without recompense or refund.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Entrants own the Intellectual Property (IP) rights to the original design work they submit to the Spark Awards competitions. Spark does not own original I.P. rights or works entered into the competitions, but has a royalty-free, perpetual right to use that work in connection with publicity and promotion of Spark programs. Spark Award sponsors or partners (Businesses and Organizations) do not own design entries, original research, or design materials that they sponsor or support unless a written license or other transfer of rights in those works is executed by the author(s) and acknowledged in writing by all parties, including Spark.

QUESTIONS? Send us a note at https://www.sparkawards.com/about/contact/ and—IMPORTANT—make sure to include: your name; your company,  school or organization; the name of your design and your question.

Now you can Register and Enter!