Pupil Design Awards
Pupil Design Awards
Inspiring social change through design thinking
The RSA Pupil Design Awards is a free, national design award programme for secondary school and sixth-form pupils aged 11-17.
Participants are encouraged to use their creativity and imagination to tackle real challenges to enable people, places and the planet to flourish in harmony.
This year represents a historic landmark for our celebrated design awards as we launch the 100th year of the Student Design Awards and 10th year of Pupil Design Awards.
For the past decade, these awards have nurtured participants’ design thinking skills to produce innovative, design-led solutions that address real-world social, environmental and commercial challenges.
Key dates
2023
- 7 Sep: PDA briefs launched (register for a briefing session with the RSA team)
- 27 Nov - 8 Dec: Free teacher training sessions and workshops
2024
- 5 Feb - 25 Mar: Mentor visits
- 1 Mar: Submissions open
- 29 Apr: Submissions close
- 1 May - 31 May: Review period
- Jun: Schools commended and awards ceremony
Teacher training sessions
Access free support and guidance for working on the design briefs.
Information and support
Find out how the RSA Pupil Design Awards work and what support we offer.
Entry requirements and judging
See the entry requirements, submission criteria and find out about the judging process.
Past winners
Find out about the winners of the 2022-23 competition.
Pupil Design Award Winners
See the winners of the 2022-23 Pupil Design Awards competition.
Content partners
Latest thinking
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Pupil Design Awards 2022-23: final evaluation report
Report
Aidan Daly
This evaluation illustrates how the Pupil Design Awards contributes to the pupils' creative self-efficacy, awareness of real-world issues and pupil and teachers' design capability, as well as the critical factors supporting teachers to complete projects and how we can make the awards more inclusive.
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The Student Design Awards' most ambitious year yet
Blog
Anna Markland
Learn about our legacy of active inclusion and our commitment to making 2023-24 the boldest and most far-reaching Pupil and Student Design Awards cycles yet.
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Pupil Design Awards 2021-2022: Final evaluation report
Report
Veronica Mrvcic Aidan Daly
The Pupil Design Awards 2021-2022 evaluation aims to understand its impact on pupils' creative self-efficacy, design capabilities, and awareness of real-world issues facing them and their communities.