Enter the 2025 Next Work Environment Student Scholarship Competition

The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.

– Business Professor Dr. Oren Harari

The Next Work Environment Competition is a transformative opportunity to shape the future of work environments before you get there.

We invite creative minds from around the world to share their ideas as individuals or in teams up to 3 students. As we strive to create workspaces and experiences that inspire, nurture, and empower individuals, we offer an extraordinary incentive: the chance to make a profound impact on people’s lives.

You can define what’s possible.

💡 Scholarships, Cash & Career-Boosting Opportunities Await!

2025 Student Categories

Workplace

With traditional offices now competing with home offices, coworking spaces, and other flexible work options, this category challenges students to design an inspiring and innovative workplace that allows employees to work their own way. Create a concept or strategy that supports hybrid work while encouraging employees to come together and connect in person.

Experiential

As the demand grows for engaging, inspiring spaces, this category challenges students to design environments where the experiences or amenities enhance the lives of daily visitors, while also enticing patrons into the building for optimal ROI.

Pick a Problem icon

Pick a Problem

This category challenges students to identify and solve a specific issue related to work and our relationship with the workplace. Whether it’s making commuting more enjoyable, offering sustainable solutions, designing new collaboration spaces, creating ways to seamlessly connect remote and in office employees, or designing innovative furniture—this is your chance to get creative!

Third Place

With hybrid work models and globalization on the rise, you can work from anywhere, anytime. This category challenges students to design a “third place” that supports work outside the traditional office while fostering social interaction and community.

Who’s Eligible?

Current Undergraduate & Graduate Students (18 yrs old+).
Enter solo or in a team of up to 3.

Why Enter?

Share your ideas with the industry and have your work seen by top workplace professionals!

Winning ideas will be celebrated in June 2025 and beyond through custom articles on workdesign.com. You’ll also receive a digital promotion pack to share news of your win on LinkedIn and other social channels.

Thanks to the generous support of innovative brands like Tango, Kimball International, Allwork.space and others, we offer scholarship and cash awards starting at $500.

The overall student winner will receive a paid trip to IFMA’s World Workplace (September 17 – 19 • Minneapolis, MN) for the presentation of their $1,500 scholarship and a $250 cash award plus a multi-day introduction to workplace unlike any other compliments of Tango and Workplace Evolutionaries. (Total Value: $4,250)

World Workplace is an incredibly inspiring experience as a junior designer! Connecting with facility management professionals has given me insight into the behind-the-scenes aspects of the design field, which has significantly and positively influenced my new career as a designer.

– Haley Giroux, 2023 Overall Next Work Environment Competition Winner on her World Workplace experience & awards reception

Easy to Submit

Expand on your best classwork or create something brand new to fit a submission.

Each submission should include:

Your contact information including name, cell number, school and post-school email.
Students must include the name of their educational institution and their graduation year.
A name for your solution or idea.
A description of specific idea or solutions (500-words).
AI-generated visuals are welcome, but your core idea must be your own.
Supporting images (up to 10 images max). You have complete discretion on the number, format and choice of visuals submitted. All images must be submitted in JPEG format.
Canva and powerpoint presentations that are 10 slides or less are also accepted.
(Optional) You can include a supplemental video, Instagram Reel or TikTok as well. Suggested length: 7-30 seconds. Max length: 3 minutes.
Finalists should make themselves available for a final call with jury members on May 16th.
In the interest of publishing as many winning entries as possible, by submitting you are giving consent for Work Design Magazine to share your idea with the jurors and the WDM audience.

Judging Criteria

Our esteemed Jury will judge submissions based on their originality, viability, and value it could bring future work experiences.

Meet The 2025 Jury

Francisco Lasta, Inclusive Design | Marketing Strategy | UX, Muller2, Now a Part of Gannett Fleming TranSystems
Alexis Dennis-Huether, Associate Principal, The SLAM Collaborative
Rex Miller, Author, Speaker, Principal and Thought Leader, Mindshift
Jessica Cooper, Chief Product Officer, IWBI
Lindsay T. Graham, UX Researcher, Personality & Social Psychologist, Google
Fernando Mier, Global Head of Emerging / Hybrid Experiences, Avanade
Ram Srinivasan, Future of Work Advisory Leader, JLL

📅 Key Dates

March 3: Submissions Open

April 25: Submissions Close

May 6: Finalists Announced

May 16: Calls with Finalists

June 2025: Winners Featured on WorkDesign.com

🔥 DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO SHAPE THE FUTURE OF WORK! 🔥

The 2025 Next Work Environment Student Competition is generously supported by the following Partners

Premier Sponsor:

Tango is a leading provider of Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS), trusted by thousands of global businesses to optimize space management, lease portfolios, facilities maintenance, and more. As the future of work continues to evolve, Tango’s innovative software helps organizations navigate this change, offering solutions for office reservation, visitor management, energy and sustainability, and construction project oversight. With a focus on flexibility and efficiency, Tango empowers businesses to stay agile in a dynamic environment, providing the insights and tools needed to make informed decisions and drive operational success.

Supporting Sponsors:

Kimball International is a leading commercial furnishings company with deep expertise in the Workplace, Health, and Hospitality markets. For over 70 years, our brands have seized opportunities to customize solutions into personalized experiences, turning ordinary spaces into meaningful places. Our family of brands includes Kimball, National, Etc., Interwoven, David Edward, Kimball Hospitality, and D’style.

We are proud to partner with Work Design Magazine since the launch of this competition, to support the next generation of talent in our industry.

National, a brand of Kimball International, joined the contract office furniture market in 1980 with a goal to be a standout. Determined to offer customers a better value with shorter lead times, National created a brand by successfully delivering innovative products that were on budget and on time. Today, that foundation still holds true. Our exceptional value, combined with design-driven products, on-time delivery, and our dedication to customer experiences has established us as a leader in the furniture industry.

Allwork.Space is the leading digital media platform dedicated to the Future of Work. For over 20 years, we’ve provided in-depth coverage, expert insights, and innovative solutions for professionals navigating the evolving workplace landscape. Our platform serves leaders in flexible work, workplace strategy, HR, coworking, and commercial real estate, helping them stay ahead of industry trends. Through our news, research, and partnerships, we empower businesses to shape the future of work.

As content partners, we are proud to collaborate with Work Design Magazine to drive meaningful conversations and support innovation in the industry through this competition.

WE (Workplace Evolutionaries) is a global Community of Practice within IFMA. WE are the world’s largest community of thought-leaders focused on supporting workforce effectiveness through workplace transformation. This year we are excited to provide a monetary prize to this year’s overall winner.