Program guide
How to apply to Red Dot Award: Product Design
International product design competition with dozens of categories; winners may use the Red Dot label and are honoured at an award ceremony in Essen.
Step by step
- Check that you are eligibleThe published rules: Open to creators and freelancers, founders, working professionals; Manufacturers, designers and studios may enter products; free places for recent graduates via a Young Professionals draw.
- Gather the materialsYou will need: Work samples, One-pager.
- Write the answersQuantify impact where you can verify it (users, revenue, publications, people served) and say how you know.
- Submit on the official pageApply through the official page (Own portal) before 11 December 2026, and keep the confirmation.
- Follow upNote when results are due. If the organiser invites questions, ask once, briefly, after the date has passed.
Timeline
- 42 days before the deadlineAsk referees and order documentsAsk your referees, and order transcripts or score reports; these depend on other people's timelines.
- By 13 November 2026Draft the statementDraft the statement around one clear plan, with evidence from your record.
- By 1 December 2026Review and remindReview against the selection criteria; gently remind referees of the date.
- By 9 December 2026Submit and keep the confirmationSubmit early and check that every reference shows as received.
Questions you will meet, answered honestly
What has the nominee achieved recently?
Three concrete achievements with dates and evidence links. Leave out anything you cannot document.
Why does it matter for the field?
One or two sentences on who benefited and how, in plain words.
What reviewers of awards and lists look for
- Quantify impact where you can verify it (users, revenue, publications, people served) and say how you know.
- Line up a nominator or endorser early if the award requires one.
- Choose the category carefully; strong entries lose when they are filed under the wrong one.
How Onward Scout helps
This one is submitted on the organiser's own site, behind your login. Onward Scout prepares every answer and file in the form's order with one-tap copy, so submitting takes minutes; you mark it submitted when you're done. There is a fee to pay to the organiser; payment always stays with you.
Let Onward Scout prepare your Red Dot Award: Product Design application
Get your nomination packet for this programme, drafted from your own documents in about two minutes. Free to start, no account needed. Every answer is drafted from your own documents with sources, and nothing is submitted without your tap.
Nothing is submitted without your tap. Logins, CAPTCHAs, payments and interviews stay with you.