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Student
Design Awards

Think differently about design

The RSA’s Student Design Awards has a 100-year legacy of celebrating the ideas of young social innovators. It was the world’s longest-running design competition till 2024.

Every year, we invited young designers and students from across the globe to apply their skills and creativity to design briefs that focus on the most pressing social and environmental challenges. Since the first prizes were given out 1924, the Student Design Awards welcomed over 110,000 projects from over 20 countries.

The awards were a prestigious springboard for participants’ careers. Our alumni include:

  • Richard Howarth – Apple, VP of Design
  • Betty Jackson MBE – Fashion designer
  • Matt McGrath – Aircraft Medical founder and inventor of the video laryngoscope.

The Student Design Awards offered the chance to learn from, and be inspired by, this century’s old tapestry of incredible changemakers.

A group of people posing on a stage in front of a screen displaying "Designing Our Futures: The 2022 RSA Student Design Awards." Some individuals are holding white objects. The background features large paintings.

Student Design Awards winners 2023-24

See the winning submissions from our 2023-2024 Student Design Awards.

Find your Spark

Discover more, and stay up-to-date with the latest news and offers on RSA Spark

Visit the RSA Spark page

In partnership with

The image shows the logo for Google DeepMind, featuring the word "Google" in the company’s signature multicoloured font followed by "DeepMind" in grey text. The image features the word "ARUP" in large, bold red capital letters on a white background. A logo with the words "Skin Health Alliance" encircling a heart shape made of a fingerprint pattern, above a stylised curved line resembling a hand. Black square with no visible content. The Rayne Foundation logo with a blue lion holding a key above the organisation’s name in large blue text on a white background. Logo of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with the word "Kew" in large, elegant serif font and "Royal Botanic Gardens" in smaller text above. Ideal for students studying botany. Black text on a white background. Two overlapping circles, one red and one blue, with the words "MARKETING" in red and "TRUST" in blue beneath them. The circles represent the connection between marketing and trust.

With support from

The image depicts the word "natracare" in light blue lowercase letters with a registered trademark symbol on the top right. The simple, modern font features soft, rounded edges, reminiscent of a student's sleek notebook design. The background is white.

Read articles about the Student Design Awards

Blog

Sophie Hague: me and my education

Sophie Hague, a 2022 Student Design Award winner, explains how design helped to identify the learning techniques that worked for her.
17 Nov 2023 Sophie Hague
A graduate with blonde hair smiles in the foreground, wearing a black cap and gown with a maroon trim. Several other graduates are seated in the background, dressed similarly, inside a graduation ceremony venue.
More blogs and articles