Karma Against All Odds

Good Karma
If you have had negative experiences with other design awards, contests, competitions or paid design recognition programs, we have an amazing program to even the odds, and bring positive karma to you and us both; we call this program "Good Karma".

Variations of a Theme
First of all, we know that not all design awards, competitions, contests, prizes, programs and accolades are created equal; some design promotion and recognition programs are way different from others and not always in a the best sense; in some awards you win when you win, in some “awards” you may have to pay when you win; in some awards you get a lot of benefits and services as part of the design prize, in some “awards” you get nothing; in some awards you are respected, loved and cared, and in some “awards”, you are just a client and everything comes with a “price”, as happens when people confuse "prize" with "price".

Are We Happy?
We are not happy with those “awards” that considers you merely as clients; we do not like the “awards” that you have to pay when you “win” (via contractual obligations), we do not like the awards that offer nothing as part of their “prize”; as it is our own belief that these “awards”, with their pay to play schemes, their “null prizes”, “microtransactions” and “further-fees” do nothing but damage the reputation of all other good design awards that are out there aimed at creating a global appreciation for good design; we created the “Good Karma” program to help create awareness of such “awards” but most importantly we created this program for designers, who may have had negative experiences with such “awards”, to help them get a positive experience for once, by taking part in our design awards program, that hopefully makes a difference. Our ultimate aim with “Good Karma” program is to restore reputation of high-quality good design award programs and to further differentiate awards from paid design recognition schemes. To make use of the “Good Karma” program, you may make use of one of our four sub procedures, depending on what your negative experience was about:

You Paid “Further Fees”
If any design “award”, competition, contest or paid design recognition program had contractually obliged you at any point in time to pay “further fees” (Learn about what are Further Fees and our Further Fees policy here), we will provide you with a complimentary digital edition nomination ticket, once, with a hope to at least partially offset the emotional damages and financial costs you may have incurred, by hopefully providing you with the rightful recognition, publicity and promotion you so deserve for your good design ourselves; just so you know we do not have “Further Fees”. To get your complimentary digital edition nomination ticket under “Good Karma” / “Further Fees” program please fill our “Good Karma” document here, sign and send to us. We will issue you a digital nomination ticket, no questions asked, once we review your form and see that you are compliant with the eligibility condition of (1) Winning other awards, (2) Getting asked further fees (and you provide us proof of such asks, price lists or legal letters as attachment to our form). (3) Filling our form. You may make use of the “Good Karma” / “Further Fees” program only one time.

You Got “Null Prize”
We believe the following are basic requirements that the award organizers should provide you when you win any design awards; you should be given, without further fees, the following: 1. The legal right to call yourself an award winner together with proof supporting the fact you are a winner, such proof or support may come in many ways, such as by means of a well-advertised, easy to find free public profile or by means of a printed or digital certificate released to you, again all without any fees, that indicates you are a winner. 2. If you are a winner, the design awards should provide you with a license to use award logo to indicate the fact that you are a winner, without any further fees or obligations, at anywhere you need; not just for very limited cases but for broad use for publicity anywhere. 3. If you are a winner, you should be also be published in a print or digital publication, free of charge, without any fees required from you. If you joined any design “award”, competition, contest or paid design recognition program, even if you were not contractually obliged to pay “further fees”, if such “awards” did not fulfill these three basic requirements, then you have been provided a “Null Prize” and we will provide you with a complimentary digital nomination ticket so that you could have at least a point of refence for what to expect minimum from any design competition you would take part in future. To get your complimentary digital edition nomination ticket under “Good Karma” / “Null Prize” program please fill our “Good Karma” document here, sign and send to us. We will issue you a digital nomination ticket, no questions asked, once we review your form and see that you are compliant with the eligibility condition of (1) Winning other awards, (2) Having the "Null Prize" (and you provide us proof via an affidavit that you say you got nothing). (3) Filling our form.

You Paid “Microtransactions”
Sometimes, it could be the case that some design “awards” may not only provide you with a “Null Prize” but they will sell everything to you; we call these “Microtransactions” but actually this is misleading because sometimes these are not micro costs at all and these so called “microtransactions” may far exceed the costs of joining a prominent design awards program; with your overwhelming joy of victory and sense of pride and accomplishment, you may not notice you are being taken advantage of. You are in a “Microtransaction” scheme if you are paying for the basic items you would otherwise expect from your “award” such as at least your printed or digital certificate, publishing you in a digital or traditional book and providing you with that book even if digital, and publishing publicly that you are a winner by means of a public profile so that people can find you as a winner and providing you with right to use the winner logo for free. If you are being sold the certificate, the yearbook page, or the yearbook, if you pay the logo, you may have paid “Microtransactions”, and we are sorry to hear that; we will help you. To get your complimentary digital edition nomination ticket under “Good Karma” / “Microtransactions” program please fill our “Good Karma” document here, sign and send to us so that we could review your request and provide you with a free digital nomination ticket to help you feel better. We will issue you a digital nomination ticket, no questions asked, once we review your form and see that you are compliant with the eligibility condition of (1) Winning other awards, (2) You paid "Microtransactions", especially to get your certificate, logo or the right to say winner and you have proof of such such as invoices or receipts attached to our form. (3) Filling our form.

You get "Frustrated"
If any design award, competition or contest had frustrated you, disrespected you or made you sad, including the A’ Design Award itself, we will provide you with a complimentary digital edition nomination ticket to offset the negative Karma and make you happy, once, no questions asked. You may refer this page to our support if they make you sad for any reason whatsoever or if they hesitate to issue your ticket, as such to remind them they should issue you a digital nomination ticket with note "Good Karma - Respect and Love" as its note. What do you need to get a complimentary digital edition nomination ticket under “Good Karma” / “Respect and Love” program? Fill our “Good Karma” document here, sign and send to us. We will issue you a digital nomination ticket, no questions asked after ensuring you are compliant with the eligibility conditions. We will issue your digital nomination ticket, once we review your form and see that you are compliant with the eligibility condition of (1) Winning other awards, (2) You get very frustrated, sad or disrespected (please kindly provide proof of such disrespect, frustration or sadness caused and attach to our form, we will study those to learn what not to do). (3) Filling our form. You may make use of the “Good Karma” program only one time. Before you take part in this program, make sure to go through our terms and conditions so that you do not feel you lose your precious time, especially when we would require you to for example submit license and declarations or ask you to make microfines in case you eventually win the accolades or get you involved with our bureaucracy such as making a proper presentation to make sure your work is properly voted.

The A' Design Prize and the A' Design Award & Competition itself was designed from the perspective of doing good by the planet, to create value for designers, artists and architects worldwide; it was designed to be good.