Helen Hamlyn Design Awards

Last updated 10 September 2020

The annual Helen Hamlyn Design Awards recognise the best RCA student projects that use design to improve people’s lives. It is a competition that rewards creativity in people-centred design across all disciplines of the College.

Helen Hamlyn Design Awards 2020

The 2020 Awards will be presented during the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design’s Design.Different week, 12–16 October 2020. They are open to all RCA graduates who completed their programme between 8 July 2019 and 17 July 2020.

This year, we will be awarding prizes across the themes of disability, inclusion, technology and creativity. A total of £6,000 in prize money will be awarded.

The main awards are sponsored by the Snowdon Trust and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Lady Helen Hamlyn, founder of the Helen Hamlyn Trust, will give her own personal award for creativity.

The Helen Hamlyn Design Awards 2020 will also present a Fixperts Award for the best project submitted as part of the Fixperts programme run through a global network of universities, and a Helen Hamlyn Design Award for Alumni to a previous Research Associate of The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design.

Applications for the 2020 Awards are open from 20 July – 7 August 2020. All applicants are entered into all categories. Shortlisted applicants will need to be available for an online interview on Wednesday, 26 August 2020.

RCA graduates should apply by completing the Application Form, including three to four images and confirmation of support from their Senior Tutor or Head of Programme, deadline: 7 August 2020.

Previous Award Winners

Amir Afshar AMBL Technical Layers

Air it yourself

Design for our Future Selves Awards

The Design for our Future Selves Awards scheme ran at the Royal College of Art from 2000 to 2008. It aimed to encourage inclusive design projects from graduating RCA students that were responsive to human behaviour and based on real insight into social need. The awards grew out of the DesignAge Competition, which ran from 1992 to 1999, addressing the needs and aspirations of older people.

Awards 2008 and winning projects
Awards 2007 and winning projects