FAQ Entry #513

This is a respond to a previously asked question about the A' Design Award and Competition. The full list of frequently asked questions can be accessed here.

#513: My country is met with widespread international condemnation, can I join the competition?

The ability for designers from any country, of any nationality, of any sex, of any religion, of any belief, of any sexual preference, of any race, to enter and compete in the design competition based on merit, without discrimination and bias, is fundamental to our accolade. We do not discriminate based on your country, your nationality, your sex, your sexual preference or lack thereof, your religion or lack thereof, your race, your body, your limbs, your eye color, or anything else, as long as you have good design not only you can join but you can win; unlike many other competitions that are covertly political, we are absolutely apolitical; to the extent the system is designed to be apolitical; our jury does not know who they vote for; entries are anonymously reviewed following blind peer-review process; we are apolitical, we do not discriminate and all we care is to organize a very fair, very ethical and very meritocratic design competition where only good design wins. We award everyone with good design even if it is detrimental to our own business, we do not care anything but we truly wish to organize an accolade where good design prevails. You are from a country with widespread international condemnation or you are from a sanctioned country, you can still join, you can even join for free if you follow our sponsorship programs, especially our sponsorship programs allow designers from less privileged countries to take part; you are a designer, artist, architect, innovator, creator, maker, brand or a company that makes good design for benefit of our planet, for our species, for all species, for betterment of society; we welcome you; for us you are sacred, as combined efforts of millions of designers is how we will create a good society, a clean planet and a safe environment, and we like to think ourselves as a sanctuary for good design, so come and join, whoever you are. When you come to our competition we do not see your nationality, we do not see your skin, we do not judge you, yet we will judge your work. In the end, we are an organization that aims to cultivate culture with good design. When and if you join, the sole rule is we do not allow any discriminatory content, we do not allow politics or propaganda, and you cannot make your entries identifiable, there should not be marks on your entries so that the grand jury could vote anonymously on your entry, not knowing who you are.

Keywords: condemnation, restricted countries, country, country limitations, discrimination, sanctioned countries

The following questions could be related:

• #45: Can I join from a particular country? For example; Can I join from Indonesia? Can I join from Canada? Can I join from Hong Kong? etc..
• #219: In what country is the competition centered? Where is the competition originate from? Which is the country for this design competition?

If you did not find your answer, please feel free to check the faq pages for more questions and answers. You will also want to check our webpage for details; thanks to our transparency policy, we document and publish everything.