Jumping straight into 2025, it’s time to consider the best ways to keep your brand top-of-mind among your target audiences. One area marketers should prioritize is pursuing industry awards that highlight best-in-class products and projects.

There are many benefits to participating in awards programs. Many awards are administered by publications and media entities with expansive audience platforms. Typically, magazines feature award winners in their print, digital or online platforms, as well as across all their social media channels – so brands receive ample editorial coverage to complement their 2025 media strategy.

This year, commercial interior design, building products, and other vertical trade publications are hosting a wide variety of awards programs that can elevate your product’s visibility among customers and decision makers in your industry. And, for truly cutting-edge, innovative products, it’s a great way for brands to showcase their thought leadership and manufacturing expertise.

In this article, we take a look at some of the best interior design awards for 2025. In fact, many of these awards are ones we recommend our clients pursue, and which we develop submissions on their behalf.

Red Dot Award: Product Design

Deadline: Regular entry deadline: January 17, 2025; Latecomer deadline: January 31, 2025.

Cost: Regular entry: €690 ($707); Latecomer entry: €890 ($912)

The Red Dot Award is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious design competitions. According to the website, the Red Dot Award: Product Design highlights products that are “aesthetically appealing, functional, sustainable or innovative,” but what they all have in common is their outstanding design.

Award winners receive:

• The option to advertise using the Red Dot winner label.
• Inclusion in the Red Dot Design Yearbook.
• Inclusion in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen.
• Promotion on Red Dot’s website and Winners section page.
• Promotion in newsletters and social media.

Submission requirements:

There are 51 categories for brands to choose from when entering products in the competition, including Lighting Systems, Kitchens and Kitchen Furniture, Bathroom and Sanitary Equipment, and more. In a second entry, you can also register your product in the metacategories “Sustainable Design” or “Innovative Design.”

Your product must be available on the open market, and the market launch must have taken place (or take place) between January 1, 2023 and July 1, 2025.

AZURE magazine’s AZ Awards  

Deadline: February 21, 2025

Cost: $250 for the first submission, $225 for the second submission, and $200 for each following submission

The AZ Awards program is AZURE’s international architecture and design competition, recognizing excellence and innovation, and showcasing the world’s best projects, products and ideas.

Award winners receive:

• An AZ Awards trophy.
• Inclusion in AZURE’s July/August print and online editions.
• Posts on AZURE’s digital and social channels.
• Exposure through AZURE’s media partners.
• A press kit distribution on v2com newswire.

Submission requirements:

Brands can submit products under a variety of categories, including Architecture, Interiors, Concepts, and more. Of particular interest to building product manufacturers is the Design category, which includes: furniture, lighting fixtures, interior products (such as wall coverings), architectural products (including sinks, tubs, faucets, etc.), houseware, and tech products.

The GOOD DESIGN Award  

Deadline: June 1, 2025

Cost: $399

Each year, the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture presents the highly-respected GOOD DESIGN Award. Founded in 1950, GOOD DESIGN honors the yearly achievements of the best industrial and graphic designers and world manufacturers for their pursuit of extraordinary design excellence. Past winners have included products from international brands like Boeing and NASA.

Award winners receive:

• Announcements and press coverage.
• Inclusion in the museum’s Permanent Design Collection.
• The GOOD DESIGN logo for use in publications, promotions, and marketing.

Submission requirements:

Any products produced and/or designed from January 2023 to the present are eligible. Product categories include Bath and Accessories, Building Materials, Floor and Wall coverings, and more.

interiors + sources Product Innovation Awards

Deadline: July 15, 2025

Cost: Early Bird Submission Rate: $375 per entry; Normal Submission Rate: $425 per entry

The Product Innovation Awards by interiors + sources magazine recognizes the materials and solutions that help interior designers, architects, and product specification influencers create beautiful, functional, and high-performance commercial projects. Entries are judged by industry professionals on criteria like environmental impact, performance, and cost savings. 

Award winners receive:

• Coverage in the November/December issue of Interiors + Sources and online.
• A PIA 2024 logo that can be used on product pages or in other materials.

Submission requirements:

Brands can submit products in 19 different categories, including accessories/décor, fabrics/textiles, furnishings, lounge seating, surfaces: floors, and more.

Metropolis Magazine Positive Planet Awards 

Deadline: August 1, 2025

Cost: Standard entry pricing is $300

Metropolis magazine covers what’s next in interior design and architecture, with a special focus on sustainability. Metropolis‘s annual Positive Planet Awards celebrate “excellence in sustainable, healthy, just design at every scale in the built environment.”

Award winners receive:

• Inclusion in a special commemorative edition of Metropolis, with a readership of 57K+.
• A feature on their website, including a video of the award ceremony and photos in their award winners photo gallery.
• Posts on their social channels, including X (170K followers), Instagram, (62K+ followers), and Facebook (62K+ followers).

Submission requirements:

Brands may submit under multiple categories, including Projects, People, and Innovation. Of particular interest to building product manufacturers is the Products category, which accepts products that have been released in the last two years. Groupings with the Products category include: Architectural Systems and Facades, Flooring-Soft (Carpet), and more.

Last year, Metropolis released a webinar with tips and tricks for your award application (and bonus: brands receive a discount for registering!). Look out for a similar webinar in 2025.

Interior Design Best of Year Awards

Deadline: September 12, 2025

Cost: $285 for an Early Bird submission and $335 for the standard entry deadline

Interior Design is one of the preeminent publications for the contract and residential design industry, and their Best of Year Awards is an event not to be missed. According to the website, it’s the design industry’s “premiere design awards program, honoring the most significant work of the year as well as recognizing designers, architects, and manufacturers from around the globe.” 

Award winners receive:

• A feature in an upcoming issue of Interior Design magazine, reaching 60,000+ A+D professionals .
• Inclusion in Interior Design digital coverage to 5+ million engaged design enthusiasts. 
• Photos in an online gallery on InteriorDesign.net and promoted across Interior Design’s digital channels.
• Official digital assets and seals for use on all marketing materials 

Submission requirements:

The award’s Product category shines a spotlight on the best in design solutions, honoring products that demonstrate excellence in areas such as functionality, aesthetics, sustainability, and more. Products must have been introduced between September 2024 and September 2025. 

There is a wide variety of applicable product types, including architectural products (doors, windows, paint, etc.), kitchen fittings and fixtures, commercial flooring, and more. See the full list.

ADEX Awards  

Deadline: October 25, 2025

Cost: $1,200

The ADEX Awards recognize the best in quality, innovation, form, and function that have impacted the design community each year. They specifically focus on architecture, interior design, product design, materials, and technology. The ADEX Awards are sponsored by Design Journal, an international resource for interior designers and architects.

Award winners receive:

• Social media promotion.
• Editorial coverage in Design Journal.
• ADEX logo for marketing materials.

Submission requirements:

Brands can submit their products in categories such as architectural/building materials, bathroom furnishings, contract furnishings, and more.

Market Segment Awards

This year, brands should also consider applying to market segment awards. These awards programs recognize innovative products and solutions in niche segments of the commercial interior design industry, including hospitality, healthcare design, and more. Here are some of the top awards we recommend this year. 

Hospitality Design Magazine’s HD Awards

Deadline: February 10, 2025

Cost: $295 for the first entry, and $195 for each additional entry

The most prestigious awards for the hospitality industry, the annual HD Awards, presented by Hospitality Design magazine, recognizes some of the best and most innovative achievements in both project and product design around the globe.

Award winners receive:

• Winners will be announced on May 6th in Las Vegas during HD Expo + Conference
• All winners and finalists will be showcased in the Hospitality Design’s May/June issue.

Submission requirements:

Innovative products are recognized in 13 categories, including Custom Art + Accessories, Technology, and the newly added Sustainable Solutions category. Manufacturers who have debuted a new product between December 1, 2023 and February 2025 are eligible to enter. 

You do not need to be an HD Expo + Conference exhibitor to submit to the HD Product Awards

The Touchstone Awards

Deadline: August 9, 2025

Cost: $1,199 per entry

Presented by The Center for Health Design, the Touchstone Awards recognize exemplary use of an evidence-based design (EBD) process in the built environment through projects and products which demonstrate exceptional achievements across the three touchstones of the EBD process: collaboration, evaluation, and sharing.

The Center for Health Design is a non-profit that engages with a global network of 30,000+ healthcare providers, facilities professionals, architects, designers, product manufacturers, consultants, and more to advance the use of an evidence-based design process to improve health, safety and business outcomes.

Award winners receive:

• Inclusion on the Center’s website and in its annual award winners video.
• Coverage in the Center’s owned channels, including newsletters to members.

Submission requirements:

Products of any type that employ an evidence-based design process are eligible; this awards program places a unique focus on healthcare design, but manufacturers may submit non-healthcare products.

Healthcare Design’s Nightingale Awards

Deadline: October 8, 2025

Cost: Regular entry: $595; Late entry: $695

The Nightingale Awards honor new healthcare and contract (non-residential) products that are exhibited at the Healthcare Design Conference + Expo.

Presented by Healthcare Design magazine in partnership with the Healthcare Design Conference + Expo, the Nightingale Awards recognize contributions to the healthcare built environment through product design and innovation that contribute to healing. 

Award winners receive:

• An announcement for award winners, live at the 2025 HCD Conference.
• Coverage in Healthcare Design’s January/February 2026 issue.
• Promotion across newsletters and social media.

Submission requirements:

The product competition is open only to companies that are exhibitors during the 2025 HCD Conference. A jury of healthcare design professionals and facility managers will review entries digitally prior to visiting the exhibitors’ booths to examine the products in person and ask questions of the manufacturers. Entrants are eligible for the following award types: Gold, Silver, Innovation, Sustainability, and one Best of Competition. 

Add Awards to Your Marketing Mix in 2025

Knowing the best interior design awards for 2025 is an excellent way to raise your brand’s visibility and credibility – through publication coverage, social media promotion, award ceremonies, and more –  and should be a part of any successful marketing mix. 

In addition, manufacturers exhibiting at NeoCon, the world’s largest trade show for contract interior products, should also consider entering NeoCon-specific awards. These include: Best of NeoCon Awards, Interior Design’s HiP Awards, Metropolis Likes Awards.

If you’re looking for advice on which awards would be most relevant for your brand, or need assistance developing award-worthy submissions, Spaulding Communications can help. Reach out today to schedule a free consultation. Or email agency president Matt Spaulding directly at matts@spauldingcommunications.com