| THE AWARD |
| CATEGORIES |
| REGISTRATION |
| SUBMIT YOUR WORK |
| ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS |
| TERMS & CONDITIONS |
| PUBLICATIONS |
| DATES & FEES |
| METHODOLOGY |
| CONTACT |
| WINNERS |
| PRESS ROOM |
| GET INVOLVED |
| DESIGN PRIZE |
| DESIGN STORE |
| THE AWARD | JURY | CATEGORIES | REGISTRATION | PRESS | WINNERS | PUBLICATIONS | ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS |
Concealed Categories |
Home > Categories > Concealed |
Concealed Nominations
A Concealed Category Entry in the A' Design Award & Competition is a specialized submission option that allows participants to receive prestigious design recognition while maintaining confidentiality of their work, particularly beneficial for pre-launch products, trade secrets, or sensitive innovations, where winners receive core award benefits (trophy, logo usage rights depending on entry types) but their entries remain unpublished and excluded from public promotional activities.
Concealed award categories are different from the regular design competition categories by having their results hidden from public access: Results will not be published online, and the concealed award winners will not receive the PR Campaign that is intended for other categories due to the secret, private or hidden nature of the products and designs submitted. Concealed award winners will also not be published in the yearbooks. However, eligible concealed design award winners, depending on their nomination method, will still be able to use a special award winner logo in their communications and marketing.
Like other categories, concealed design award winners will be marked platinum, gold, silver, bronze or A’ based on the merits and achievements. The concealed design award category badge is designed slightly different to indicate the secret nature of the submissions, however regular logos could be obtained after category changes. There are two types of concealed award categories; categories that are concealed due to product nature, or categories that are concealed due to secrecy.
Please kindly note that concealed design award categories could have further terms and conditions that participants should agree before joining as explained in the concaled category participation notes below this page. Addendum to the participation terms and conditions for such categories are explained in their pages.
Concealed Categories are mostly participated by large enterprises who wish to get a design award for their new products but also wish to hide their award status from the public until they release the products to market to have an advantage of surprise, furthermore Concealed Categories are also ordered by designers and design agencies who have made agreements with their clients not to publicise the works, or in some cases if the works must be kept confidential.
Excellent for Strategic Product Launches
A' Design Award's Concealed Categories offer a strategic advantage for brands coordinating major product launches by allowing you to secure prestigious award recognition for your upcoming products while maintaining complete control over launch timing and market revelation. Perfect for coordinated global releases, embargo-sensitive innovations, and strategic product launches, Concealed Categories ensure your design can be evaluated and awarded without compromising your launch schedule or marketing strategy. You can prepare award-based marketing materials in advance, synchronize your product reveal with retail partners, and maximize the impact of your launch by incorporating A' Design Award recognition at the perfect moment – all while maintaining complete confidentiality until your chosen release date.
Good to Know: If you joined concealed category by mistake, you can apply to have it converted to a non-concealed category, but in most cases award level could be effected since the design shall be voted again and the non-concealed categories are slightly more competitive. Concealed to Regular Conversion service can be ordered at Account Services section and is subject to a fee since the entry shall be voted again.
In certain cases we could move your design to a Concealed Category, such as if you fail to provide us with licenses to publish your work, when and if your design is moved to a Concealed Category, you do not lose your award status; you can still use the award status and logo, and if you are pro-edition entrant you would be still eligible to obtain your award trophy, still eligible to join gala (but we would not publish your design). Indeed many enterprises move their design to Concealed Category on a regular casis, as this has many benefits including but not limited to cases when companies are applying for patents and publishing their designs would void such patent applications, as well as cases where companies present trade secrets in their submissions to better explain their designs but not wish these secrets to be known. Concealed Categories are as prestigious as main categories and apart from non-publishing results, the laurates retain access to almost all other award benefits such as the eligibility to obtain trophy, to obtain and use award winner logo, to use award winner certificate, to obtain yearbook (but of course without your design included as it is concealed), to join gala (for pro-editon entrants), and other events including but not limited to exhibitions, and works in Concealed Categories count equally towards World Design Rankings, Designer Rankings and Design Classification Rankings systems.
If you wish to check open - published design award categories, please refer to the full list of design competition categories, unlike the concealed categories, the open - published categories have their results made available online and are indeed the preferred way to participate in order to create the maximum dissemination and reach for awarded entries. Concealed Design Award categories are as noted below, please click on a category to learn more about these categories, including requirements and voting criteria.
Important information on Concealed Category Participation
Even though the design category is concealed entry due to trade secrets, the entries could potentially be visible online. Especially the following could potentially be visible to public: “Project name, category name, primary function, designer name, and small thumbnail image”. Since the category is “Concealed” Award winners in this category will not receive some of the services that would make the designs publicly visible. The following are the services that are excluded for this category: Yearbook participation, exhibition participation, pr-campaign, premium pr distribution, press releases etc. Some of the services and limited distribution could be provided. Winners keep right to receive trophy and logo usage permissions. Even though your entry is labeled secret and hidden, in cases where publishing your design details is required, such as by law they might get published.
Requesting Change from Concealed Category to Regular Categories
If you submitted your design to a Concealed Category, you might request a change from Concealed Category to Regular Category. There is a fine for this change which is explained in Account Services section and furthermore, there are additional rules and conditions that apply; for example even if you request your entry category to be changed from Concealed Category to Regular Categories, your work cannot be included in the yearbook or in the exhibition or any other mediums that require us to prepare materials in advance, unless the concealed to regular change is completed (not requested but completed) before results announcement. Furthermore not all concealed to regular requests will be considered, we reserve right to refuse change from concealed category to regular category for any reason.
How to Request a Concealed to Regular Change Before Voting Begins
This is Free but Requires Clear Request: If you nominated your entry for the one of the concealed categories which is a special category to hide your results; i.e. submitting to concealed category means your results will not be announced. We cannot change this category for you unless you ask us in a very clean manner to change the category of your work from concealed category to regular category by indicating us clearly the design ID Number and the number of the new (regular) category or to “appropriate category” that we could choose. We cannot change the category of your entry from concealed to regular without a very clear request, as you might understand that there are many people who submit to concealed categories for actually concealing their work, and any ambiguous request will therefore be discarded. We cannot change from concealed category to regular category without participants making a very clear request that the category shall be changed. You need to send an email to our support and clearly state your intention to change your entry from concealed category to another category if you wish to change your entry participation category. Any request must be done 3 days prior to voting, we reserve right to refuse requests that are made after this time.
How to Request a Concealed to Regular Change After Results Announcement
This Change is Not Free, Furthermore it is not always possible. Before requesting this change, you must get a confirmation that we would do the change by contacting us first and indicating design ID, new category request and reason for change. Upon careful consideration we will reply, our reply will be final. If approved you can pay the Concealed to Regular Change Fee from the Account Services page and your category will be updated. However to remind you even if your category is updated from concealed to regular, we reserve right to exclude you from some services that might require advance planning or design, for example we will most definitely exclude your work from yearbook, and it is also possible we will exclude it from exhibition as well.
License and Declaration Framework for Concealed Entries
A' Design Award's License and Declaration system ensures that when winners transition from Concealed Categories to public recognition, their innovations are exclusively showcased alongside other verified, legitimate designs. This careful curation through licensing requirements means your award-winning work is only associated with authentic, original innovations from creators who have proven rights to their designs. For brands managing strategic product launches or sensitive releases, this creates a pristine promotional environment where your success is celebrated among peers who maintain equally high standards of originality and legal compliance, protecting your brand's reputation while maximizing the impact of your award recognition.
Further Security Features
A' Design Award demonstrates its commitment to security through proactive engagement with global security experts and researchers, continuously strengthening its digital infrastructure. Our collaborative approach to identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities is designed to provide a high level of protection for participants' sensitive information and intellectual property. By leveraging the expertise of international security professionals and implementing their insights, we aim to maintain a robust, continuously evolving security framework that safeguards your valuable design assets and confidential information throughout your award journey. However, no system is completely safe, and absolutely all digital systems can be hacked. For this reason, we remind big brands and corporations that we also offer On-Location Review at Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility for products and projects that are truly top-secret or under strict embargo for media. We also invite you to learn more about our Intellectual Property Guidelines.
Variable-Salted Multi-Layer Hashing
A' Design Awards protects account passwords using an advanced multi-later security method. When you create a password, A' Design Award's system adds a unique random code (called a 'salt') to your password, mutating it, the salt, which is used for mutating your password is different for every user, then we encrypt the salted password multiple times. This salted and encrypted version then gets encrypted again, creating mutliple layers of protection. It is like having your password written in invisible ink, then putting that paper in a sealed envelope; even if someone somehow opened the envelope, they still couldn't read the invisible writing. This makes it significantly harder for third parties to bruteforce and crack passwords even if they somehow accessed the database, because each user's password is protected with its own unique encryption pattern that is non-repeating, reverse hash tables cannot be used for reading user password, adding a further level of protection.
Secure Protocol
A' Design Award's submission platform uses HTTPS. HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) creates an encrypted connection between your web browser and A' Design Awards' servers - imagine it as a secure tunnel through which all data travels. When you submit designs, login details, or browse the platform, HTTPS ensures all information is scrambled during transmission, making it unreadable to anyone trying to intercept it. It is like sending your design materials through an armored vehicle instead of regular mail - even if someone intercepts the vehicle, they can't unlock the doors to see what's inside. This is particularly important when uploading valuable design assets or accessing account information, as it deters cybercriminals from capturing sensitive data while it's moving between your computer and the award platform's servers. It does not stop hacking gods working for governments, but for that we have SCIF evaluation as an alternative add-on entry method, which creates the highest level security possible.
Iron Maiden
A' Design Awards employs Iron Maiden protection functions - think of them as smart security guards that monitor and control traffic to the platform. Using a 'leaky bucket' algorithm, the Iron Maiden functions detect and block suspicious behavior, like someone trying to guess passwords too quickly or making too many rapid requests. Iron Maiden works like a nightclub bouncer with a strict entry policy: if someone tries to rush the door too many times in a certain amount of time, they are automatically blocked, first temporarily and then permanently. The Iron Maiden system allows normal user activity to flow naturally (like water slowly dripping from a bucket), but when it detects aggressive or automated attack patterns (like water rushing in too fast), it immediately restricts access. Iron Maiden system was designed to help prevent brute force attacks, where hackers try to break in by overwhelming the system with repeated attempts, while ensuring legitimate users can access the platform smoothly. Iron Maiden functions also enforce strict access controls, with the aim to ensure users can only reach the parts of the system they're authorized to use. Iron Maiden cannot stop the gods of hacking, but our remote on-location evaluation in secure facility can, with a SCIF, there is no digital footprint and we recommend this option for highly classified projects, including government works as well as top-secret products not yet released to market.
On-Location Review at Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility
For innovations requiring the highest level of security, A' Design Award further offers an exceptional add-on service: evaluation in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). This ultra-secure environment provides maximum protection for groundbreaking designs, revolutionary products, and highly sensitive innovations. Perfect for military/defense contractors that aim to present protective technologies (reminding you that we do not allow weapons for nomination), as well as for companies with breakthrough technologies, or brands preparing game-changing product launches, A' Design Award's On-Location Design Review at Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility Service ensures your design is evaluated in a controlled-access facility with zero information leakage. This premium security option demonstrates our commitment to protecting your most valuable intellectual property while still allowing you to gain prestigious recognition for your innovations. Please note that On-Location Review at Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility Service is not automatically provided as part of Concealed Category entry, however it is available on demand. To learn more read about On-Site Voting in a Remote Secure Facility Service at our Account Services page.
• If you are having difficulties in choosing the right category, simply register and upload your design and wait for the preliminary checking service which is provided free of charge. Alternatively, you could submit your design for the category 24 for hard to classify projects. If you are wondering why there are 100+ categories, we invite you to read more about it here: networking effects. For an unabridged list of categories, click here.
