Established in 1985, Design Innovation In Plastics is now the longest running student plastics design award in Europe. It is an opportunity for design students to make a name for themselves, but also for universities to raise their profile as institutes of excellence in this field.

The award timing follows the academic year. The exact dates for each award year are announced in September on this web site but, as a guide, the main activities through the year are:

• – Registration on the award website opens in October and ends in February with students requiring to submit their projects in early March.
• – Judging of the designs is in two stages. Initial judging takes place in late March, when the six best designs are identified and offered advice by the judges on how to develop them for the final.
• – Final judging is in late May when the six finalists present their designs. The results are announced at the award ceremony in early July.
• – Each of the six finalists receives a cash prize and is offered a short placement at a UK design company. The University Departments of the six finalists also receive a cash prize.

The award is very well supported by many students from around 30 universities in the UK and Ireland registering for the competition every year with many of these universities having now incorporated Design Innovation in Plastics into their coursework.

Organised by the Worshipful Company of Horners and the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3), Design Innovation in Plastics is also sponsored and supported by market leaders in the fields of design and innovation.

Both IOM3 and the Worshipful Company of Horners play important roles in the field of education.  design and sustainability, and this award was set up to encourage plastics design innovation and best practice in our future product design