The contractworld.award is Europe’s most valuable prize for interior design, and highly respected within the international architecture community. Prizes are awarded for the best design concepts in three main categories: progressive office work environments, creative hotel and restaurant interiors, and innovative shops and exhibition stands. Entries are also invited for this year’s additional fourth category, which is for attractive and unusual interior designs for buildings in the education and healthcare sectors. The competition is open as of now to architects, interior designers and design professionals worldwide.

The contractworld.award celebrates its tenth anniversary next year, and is now worth a total of 60,000 euros in prize money. It focuses on the latest trends in interior design, with particular reference to interior fittings and fixtures, lighting, flooring, and the treatment of walls and ceilings. To qualify for the 2010 contractworld.award, the projects submitted must have been completed after 31 December 2006: the closing date for entries is 17 July 2009. The prize presentation takes place at contractworld 2010 (16 – 19 January), the annual forum for architecture which takes place under the aegis of the international flooring trade show DOMOTEX in Hannover. Further information and entry forms can be found online at:www.contractworld.com.

The judges are looking for integrated design concepts that stand out by virtue of their quality, functionality and aesthetic value, as well as their innovative treatment of space, materials, colour and surface texture or finish. At the same time, two additional special awards will be presented exclusively for avant-garde projects submitted by “New Generation” entrants (architects/interior designers under the age of 40).

This year’s competition will be judged by a jury of seven, who will select the prize-winners in each of the four categories. The jury includes such high-profile and internationally acclaimed architects as Prof. Dr. Josep Lluís Mateo, head of the practice MAP Architects in Barcelona and a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich since 2002; Mels Crouwel, co-founder of the Amsterdam office Benthem Crouwel Architekten B.V. bna, and Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands from 2004 to 2008; and Andreas Hild, co-owner of the practice Hild und K. in Munich. Andreas Hild holds a teaching post at the Technical University of Darmstadt, and also works as a consultant for Harvard University in the USA.

The short-listed contestants for an award in the “Next Generation” category will be asked to present their projects before a live jury at contractworld 2010. The jury will deliberate immediately afterwards and announce the final prize-winners.