Cycle 5 of our Innovation Competition is the place to let your creative ideas shine & potentially earn you a scholarship!

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED – STAY TUNED FOR THE LIST OF FINALISTS

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 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.

Imagine a work environment where employees thrive, their full potential is unleashed, and collaboration and innovation flourishes. This is your chance to create and support that space while inspiring greatness, enhancing well-being, and enabling the best work.

You can redefine what’s possible. The 2024 Next Work Environment Competition is your chance to submit your visionary ideas that will define the path forward for the future of work.

Announcing the 2024 Student Categories:

Explore the future of workplace wellness in a post-pandemic world. Propose solutions to new and emerging challenges such as remote work burnout, digital overload, and maintaining social connections in hybrid work environments.

With the rise of remote work and coworking, the purpose of the office is evolving. Share a vision for the future of office buildings and how they can serve the workforce while being adaptable for other uses. Provide a concept or completed idea that includes strategies, workspace design, amenities, urban planning, adaptive reuse, enhanced sustainability, or other innovative solutions.

Develop an innovative solution, idea or product that enhances sustainability in work environments. This could include energy-efficient technologies, waste reduction systems, sustainable furniture, or green building practices. Explain how your innovation addresses current environmental challenges, improves workplace sustainability, and could be implemented in both traditional offices and remote work settings.

At the office, at your home, or anywhere in between. We’re looking for inspiring new solutions that not only enhances physical comfort and are aesthetically pleasing, but also nurtures wellness and is good for the planet.

This category is wide open and empowers students to tackle the pressing challenges posed by rapidly evolving work environments and the experiences in them. Choose a problem you wish to solve with the ultimate goal of fostering success for individuals, teams and organizations.

Already finished school?

Check out the 8 categories for Professional entries here

Who’s Eligible?

To be in the running for a scholarship prize, entrants must be current students or Spring 2024 grads ,and age 18 or older. All others are encouraged to submit to our open call 2024 Next Work Environment Competition for professionals.

Why Enter? Scholarships & More Perks!

Winning ideas will be celebrated across workdesign.com in September 2024 and beyond through custom articles on workdesign.com. You’ll also receive a digital pack to share news of your win on LinkedIn.

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

The overall student winner will receive a paid trip to World Workplace (October 7 – 11 OR 9 – 11 • San Antonio Texas) for the presentation of their $1,500 scholarship plus a multiday introduction to workplace unlike any other.

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

Past competition winners have gone on to be featured in Work Design Magazine and on BBC, Workplace podcasts, and even been hired by our esteemed jurors (see 2024 list here).

We keep in touch with winners too with our ‘Where Are They Now’ feature articles.

See Leigh Ann Bryan’s Cautious Confabulation Submission & Updates

Where are they now? Check out past winner updates here!

Easy to Submit

Adapt your best work to date or create something brand new to fit a submission.

Each submission should include:

• Your contact information including name(s), address, phone number, and 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).
• 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.
• 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. See more details here.

Student Guidelines

Participants can use AI-generated imagery to enhance and support their design concepts. However, the core design work, including the development of ideas, strategies, and solutions, must be original and created independently by the student. We call it Human Intelligence!

More specifically, here are some guidelines for incorporating AI in your submission:

1. AI-Generated Imagery: Use AI tools to create supporting images such as renderings, visualizations, and mock-ups to illustrate and complement your ideas.
2. Original Work: Ensure that all fundamental work and ideation is done independently by you, the participant.
3. Cite AI Tools: Clearly indicate and cite any AI tools or software used to generate the supporting images.
4. Submission Requirements: Outside of your 500 word submission, please also include a brief description of how AI was utilized in your submission, specifying which parts of the images were created using AI and which were done manually.

By adhering to these guidelines, you can effectively leverage AI for visual support while showcasing your unique creative and strategic ideas.

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED – STAY TUNED FOR THE LIST OF FINALISTS

Judging Criteria

Our esteemed Jury may recognize students, their past school work and futuristic ideas (theoretical work) across all categories. They may also recognize any submission for any reason that demonstrates uncommon thinking, exceptional innovation and that stands out amongst others.

Meet the 2024 Jury

• Rex Miller, Author, Speaker, Principal and Thought Leader, Go mindSHIFT
• Frank Cottle, Founder and CEO, The Alliance Group / Allwork.Space
• Ben Waber, Visiting Scientist, MIT; Senior Visiting Researcher, Ritsumeikan University
• Hassan Shaikh, Senior Manager Workplace Strategy, Boehringer Ingelheim
• Yasmien Fadl, AVP, Head of Design & Experience, Enterprise Real Estate, TD Bank
• Steven McCollom, Global Design Strategy Lead, People + Places, Intuit
• Alexis Dennis-Huether, Associate Principal, The SLAM Collaborative
• Dave Gilmore, President & Chief Executive Officer, DesignIntelligence
• Francisco Lasta, Inclusive Design and Marketing Strategy, Muller2
• Jessica Collins, Director of Design, Interiors, HOK
• Ebbie Wisecarver, Chief Design Office, WeWork
• Antonia Cardone, Americas Lead | Total Workplace, Cushman & Wakefield
• Jessica Cooper, Chief Product Officer, IWBI
• Ken Wilson, Design Principal, Perkins + Will

Pricing Per Submission:

• For each submission there is a $25 processing fee.

Key Dates:

August 14th @ 11:59PM EST: Submissions are now closed

Sept 4th: Publication of the List of Finalists

Sept 5th & 6th: Final Round Calls with Student Finalists

Sept 19th: Live Reveal on the Workplace Innovator Podcast by Eptura & Winner Articles will begin to post on workdesign.com 

The 2024 Next Work Environment Student Competition is generously supported by:

Special thanks to our overall Competition sponsors: