The Academy of Design will award new industry prizes

Prague - The newly established Academy of Design of the Czech Republic will award its annual Czech Grand Design awards for the first time on February 24. As in other fields, the annual awards for best design aim to regularly draw the attention of both experts and the public to extraordinary personalities and actions in the given field. They provide an opportunity to recognize and publicize the work of specific creators and help the general public navigate the specific industry scene more effectively.
    The festive announcement of the winners of the first edition will take place in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum. The Czech Grand Design awards will be presented by experts associated with the Academy of Design of the Czech Republic, which consists of curators, theorists, and journalists from the field; active designers are not members. The awards will be given in eight categories: Designer of the Year, Fashion Photographer of the Year, Discovery of the Year, Retailer of the Year, Manufacturer of the Year, and Hall of Fame.
    So far, nominations in individual categories are known. Designer of the Year has three subcategories - product design, fashion design, and graphic design. In the product design category, the most nominations were received by Jiří Pelcl, Jan Čapek, Maxim Velčovský, and Rony Plesl. For fashion design, the most nominations went to Denisa Nová, Muset Fashion Design, and Hana Zárubová, while in graphic design, the highest nominations were garnered by Studio Side 2 (Tomáš Machek, Luděk Kubík, Karel Haloun), Petr Babák (Laboratory), and Štěpán Malovec.
    In the category of Fashion Photographer of the Year, the nominees are Goran Tačevski, Salim Issa, and Anna Mrázek Kovačič. The title of Discovery of the Year is being sought by Petr Korecký, Jan Čapek, and Milan Pekař, while the title of Manufacturer of the Year is being contested by MM Interiér, Sklárny Květná/glassworks Klára, and Karlovy Vary Mineral Waters.
    The academy has nominated 23 personalities for the Hall of Fame. The most nominations were received by designer Stanislav Lachman, design historian Milena Lamarová, and architect, designer, and former rector of the AAAD Jiří Pelcl.
    Design awards in the Czech Republic are also presented by institutions such as the Design Center of the Czech Republic and the Designblok exhibition - both institutions have their representatives in the Academy of Design of the Czech Republic. Individual companies also award their own design prizes, and a few years ago, the magazine Architekt decided to introduce a new award for young talents in design and architecture. However, the Ladislav Sutnar Prize was only awarded once, in 2003.