The Design Awards program provides an outstanding opportunity for designers to put forward their best work.

The awards are a great marketing tool in promoting your business to future clients. BDQ heavily promotes all Design Awards entries across physical, traditional, digital, and social channels throughout the year.

This promotion allows the industry and wider public to understand what Building Designers do and the important role they play in shaping our built environment.

The awards are also a chance for you and your team to reflect on your work. By reflecting on projects months or possibly years after you began them, you're able to learn from past experience and grow as a designer.

 

ENTER THE 2024
DESIGN AWARDS NOW

 

2024 Entrant Handbook Guide

2024 Key Dates

  • Entries open: Wednesday 31st January; 10am
  • Entries close: Tuesday 23rd April; 5pm
  • Student entries close: Wednesday 10th July; 5pm
  • Emerging BDIP entries close: Wednesday 10th July; 5pm

 

2024 Regional Design Awards

  • Thursday 11th July: Far North Queensland
  • Friday 12th July: Mackay + Central Queensland 
  • Thursday 25th July: South West
  • Friday 26th July: Brisbane
  • Thursday 1st August: Gold Coast
  • Friday 2nd August: Sunshine Coast

 

2024 State Design Awards 5th October at the Rivershed!

Eligibility

Entrants must be:

  • a current BDQ Member
  • appropriately qualified/licensed for the project entered
  • the original author of the project's design

Fees

  • Regional Design Awards: $100+GST per entrant
  • State Design Awards: $250+GST per entry
  • Student Design Awards: $25+GST per entry

 

 

Consent Forms

You must obtain consent from your client & photographer. These forms are not required to be submitted, but may be requested at any time.

CLIENT CONSENT FORM
PHOTOGRAPHER CONSENT FORM

How You're Judged

Judges assess each entry on its own merits and score it based on a set of criteria. Scores from all judges are then added together to determine Regional and State winners for each category. Design of the Year finalists are moderated across panels to ensure the most accurate result.

Your entry is judged based on all submitted materials (photos, plans/drawings, extra documentation and written responses) as a package against the below criteria. You won't be judged on the quality of your writing, but you should answer each question as best you can. Clarity and a full explanation of each question will assist the judges in scoring against their criteria.

Regional Highlights

This year, judges will be given an opportunity to flag a selection of entries as ‘projects of interest’ to recognise their high calibre even if they do not receive a Regional Design Award. A selection of the most voted upon projects will be showcased as Regional Highlight projects at the State Design Awards within their respective categories.

Commendations

Judges may award commendations to projects that do not receive a State Design Award, but are still deserving of recognition.

2024 Judging Criteria

Livability

How well did you utilise space planning, interiors and other innovations to make the space enjoyable for those who live or work there?

Solving Challenges

How well did you overcome any relevant challenges in topography, climate, accessibility, budget, or site constraints?

Built Form

How well did you overcome any relevant challenges in topography, climate, accessibility, budget, or site constraints?

Innovation

How well did you use materials and design elements to create project-specific innovations?

Satisfaction of Client Brief

How well did you use materials and design elements to create project-specific innovations?

2024 Categories

Commercial

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer

  • Industrial Building Design (class 7/8)
  • Public Building Design (class 9)
  • Peter Modini Memorial Award - New Commercial Buildings
    up to $5M (class 5/6)
  • New Commercial Building over $5M (class 5/6)
  • Commercial Renovation (class 5/6)

Interiors

Eligibility: Appropriately Qualified/Licensed (Building or
Interior Designers)

  • Commercial Interiors (class 3/5/6/7/8/9)
  • Residential Interiors (class 1/2/3/4)
  • Best Bathroom (any class)
  • Best Kitchen (any class)
  • Best Space (space other than kitchen or bathroom)

Residential Renovations

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer; class 1

  • Residential Renovation up to $350K
  • Residential Renovation $350K - $600K
  • Residential Renovation $600K - $1M
  • Residential Renovation over $1M

Small Home & Lot

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer; class 1

  • Small Home Design (less than 150m2)
  • Small Lot Design (less than 350m2)

New Homes

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer; class 1

  • New Home up to $400K
  • New Home $400K - $700K
  • New Home $700K - $1M
  • New Home $1M - $1.5M
  • New Home $1.5M - $2.5M 
  • New Home over $2.5M

 

Multi-Residential

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer

  • New Multi-Residential Project up to 3 storeys (class 1/2/3)
  • New Multi-Residential Project over 3 storeys (class 2/3)

Specialty

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer

  • Special Project (does not fit in any other category)
  • Heritage Building Design
  • James Hardie Design Excellence Award

Sustainable Design

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer

  • Sustainable Building Design - Commercial
  • Sustainable Building Design - Residential

Conceptual Design

Eligibility: QBCC licensed Building Designer; project must not yet be built and cannot be entered into a built category in the same year.

  • Conceptual Building Design - Residential
  • Conceptual Building Design – Commercial

Emerging Professionals

Eligibility: nominee must be nominated by their employer – both parties must be BDQ members

  • Emerging Building Design Industry Professional (open to all professionals)

Student Design Awards

Eligibility: current BDQ member (student or recent graduate); must be your own original work, and not created for commission

  • Best Building Design - Student
  • Best Interior Design - Student

BDQ Student Design
Awards - open to students
and recent graduates of
Building and Interior Design

 

Entering the Student Design Awards are a great opportunity to showcase your abilities to the industry and potential future employers. Every student entry is celebrated at our State Design Awards, with winners announced on the night.

All students and graduates can enter either or both categories - the project, not your studies, determine whether you enter the Building Design or Interior Design category.

Entry Requirements:

  • You may submit any assignment project or independent design
  • You cannot enter a project that has been previously entered in our Design Awards
  • The project must not be for a real client

Entries for Student Design Awards will close 5pm Wednesday 10th July in line with semester 1 assessment periods.

Useful Entry Tips

Re-Enter Past Projects

Have an entry that didn't win a regional award last year? You can enter it again this year, provided it did not win the category (at Regional level) into which you're entering it. All your project info, attachments, photos and answers to questions can be copied across to make your life easier. You must contact BDQ Head Office to copy entries between seasons. Email our head office via [email protected]

Submit entries in multiple categories

Your entry may be eligible for multiple categories (eg: Residential Interiors; Best Kitchen; Best Bathroom; Best Space; Small Lot/Home; Heritage Building Design; James Hardie Deisgn Excellence Award), and our online entry platform makes it easy to enter.

  1. fully complete the entry in one category
  2. return to your dashboard
  3. select the entry by ticking the box to the left
  4. click 'copy' button at the top of entry list
  5. when entry copy process is complete, go into entry marked 'copy', change the category and go through each tab to ensure information is correct before submitting

Save and return to your entry

Up until the due date, you can return to edit your entry as often as you like. Start early, and chip away at your entries to ensure you put your best foot forward.

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