Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Announces 'Korea Public Design Awards' Contest

Theme: Inclusion: Change for Everyone
Upgraded to Presidential Award for Excellence Cases

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft & Design Foundation will hold a public contest for the "Korea Public Design Awards" from the 1st to the 24th of next month. The aim is to discover public designs that excel in public value and aesthetics to enhance the public's cultural enjoyment rights.

This year’s theme is "Inclusion: Change for Everyone." The plan is to identify public design cases that respond to various differences and changes such as region, generation, gender, culture, and disability.

Anyone, including public design professionals and the general public, can participate. Participants can propose solutions through business or campaign ideas.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will select outstanding cases divided into three categories: business, research, and local governments. The business category includes public spaces and architecture, public facilities, public visual images and public goods, public services, and public campaigns.

In the research category, studies that form social discourse on public design and suggest directions for development will be sought. A special award, the Victor Margolin Award, will be given to papers presenting practical measures and roles for public design in future society. Victor Margolin (1941?2019) was a world-renowned design scholar. He visited Korea in 2015 as a keynote speaker at the International Design Congress and donated funds to promote academic research.

In the local government category, organizations that have worked to establish a foundation for promoting public design through ordinances, promotion plan establishment, and committee operation will be selected and awarded.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official stated, "Public opinion will be reflected in the selection of awardees." They explained, "Cases that resolved experienced inconveniences and public design precedents felt by the public will be directly voted on, and the results will be combined with expert evaluations to select the final winners."

The total prize money amounts to approximately 130 million KRW. In particular, the grand prize in the excellent case category, which has been elevated to the Presidential Award, will receive 20 million KRW.

The contest will be operated through recommendations from institutions, companies, and experts, as well as direct applications from individuals, institutions, and companies that have conducted business or research. For more details, please refer to the Public Design Comprehensive Information System or the Korea Craft & Design Foundation website.