Design Innovation in Plastics
Student Design Awards

Every year, DIP sets undergraduate designers across the UK and Ireland a new design challenge.

We set the brief.

The freedom to innovate is yours.

How to enter

FREE TO ENTER · FREEDOM TO INNOVATE · PLASTICS TRAINING · INDUSTRY PLACEMENT · CASH PRIZES

The 2027 brief

When life doesn't go to plan

This year’s challenge asks you to explore how product design could help people respond when everyday life is disrupted.

The brief sets the principles.

What you design is up to you.

Read the 2027 brief

Turn your ideas into award-winning design

Interpret the brief. Get creative. Pitch your idea.

As a finalist, take DIP with you on your innovation journey.

Entries close 13 March 2027.

See key dates

The current winners

One brief. Two winning responses.

For the first time in DIP history, the 2026 award produced joint winners.

See how Cross Connect and Honeycomb Havoc turned the same challenge into two award-winning responses.

Discover this year's winners

“My result in the DiP competition played an important part in helping me get onto the Dyson graduate scheme. It gave me something tangible to demonstrate alongside my degree and helped me stand out when applying for graduate roles. Being a finalist also gave me a lot of confidence going into the start of my career, and I think that momentum helped me to make the most of the opportunities that followed”.
Finlay McEwan