12 Design Competitions for Students to Enter in 2026
Looking for design competitions for students that are actually open right now? Competitions give you a real brief, a real deadline and a real jury. Win, and you get a line on your CV. Lose, and you still have a finished portfolio piece.
We run student programs at TinyFish, so we spend a lot of time pointing students at places to show their work. Here are 12 real competitions, grouped by type, each checked on its official website.
Last checked: October 2026.
The TinyMerch Challenge is open to TinyFish students and ambassadors until Sunday 15 November, 11:59 PM PT. See the entries, or join the Student Program or Ambassador Program to enter.
TL;DR
- We picked 12 design competitions for students across graphic and poster design, product and industrial design, UX and interaction design, and merch.
- The closest deadlines are TEI's Student Design Competition (9 November 2026), the TinyMerch Challenge and the UX Design Awards New Talent category (both 15 November 2026), and HRI's Student Design Competition (20 November 2026).
- Free to enter: the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD 2027 and the TinyMerch Challenge. Several others charge a small fee, so check before you start.
- Pick by fit, not prize size, then design for the judging criteria and submit early.
How we picked these competitions
We only included a competition if its official website showed who can enter and either a current deadline or the dates of its last cycle. Where a 2027 date is not published yet, we say so instead of guessing. Each entry covers what it is, who can enter, timing, what you win and who it suits. Rules change, so read the full terms before you submit.
Graphic and poster design competitions
1. Young Ones Student Awards 2027
What it is: The One Club for Creativity's student competition. It covers the One Show, Art Directors Club (ADC), Type Directors Club (TDC) and Portfolio competitions. Details are on the Young Ones site.
Who can enter: Students currently enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate or portfolio program, plus recent graduates whose graduation date is after 18 March 2026. Credited entrants must be 18 or older and have less than two years of professional experience. PhD candidates are not eligible.
Deadline and timing: Early deadline 11 December 2026 ($45 per entry), standard deadline 12 March 2027 ($55), final deadline 19 March 2027 ($65). Discounts and fee waivers are available for some entrants.
What you win: Young Ones awards across the One Show, ADC and TDC student shows.
Best for: Graphic design, typography and advertising students who want industry recognition.
2. Super South Poster Design Competition
What it is: A global poster competition curated by PosterTerritory for the Super South Summit. The brief: visualize a sustainable future. See the official competition page.
Who can enter: Designers, artists, architects, students and other creatives worldwide. The page says there are no restrictions on entry.
Deadline and timing: Opened 1 October 2026. Final deadline 15 January 2027 at 11:59 PM EDT. Posters must be 24 x 36 inches, portrait, print-ready PDF. The submission form includes a payment step, so check the current entry cost when you apply.
What you win: Platinum $2,500, Gold $1,000, Silver $750, Bronze $500 and a Student Category award of $500. Around 100 finalists are printed and exhibited at the Super South Summit in Atlanta in March 2027.
Best for: Poster designers who want a cash prize and their work printed on a wall.
3. FLUX 2026 Student Design Competition (AIGA Baltimore)
What it is: A student design competition run by AIGA Baltimore with seven categories: Identity, UX/UI, Publication, Packaging, Poster, Video/Motion Graphics and Social Impact Design. Full details on the FLUX site.
Who can enter: Undergraduate students pursuing an associate or bachelor's degree at a US college or university. International entries are not eligible.
Deadline and timing: 29 November 2026. Fees step up over time: AIGA members pay $10 to $20 and non-members $20 to $30, depending on when you enter. Social Impact entries for qualifying nonprofit work are free.
What you win: Best in Show and Best in Category recognition, plus Honorable Mentions. The site does not list cash prizes.
Best for: US undergrads with finished class projects.
4. NISOD Student Graphic Design Contest 2026-2027
What it is: A contest to design the banner artwork for the NISOD conference, on the theme "Advancing the Student Experience: The Next Frontiers." The art is printed as a 5-foot-tall by 10-foot-wide banner. See the NISOD contest page.
Who can enter: Students at NISOD member colleges and participating CCCSE colleges who will be at least 18 by May 2027 and can attend the conference in Austin, Texas.
Deadline and timing: Opened 15 October 2026. Deadline 1 February 2027. AI tools, stock images and clip art are not allowed.
What you win: $1,000, up to $400 toward travel to Austin, up to two nights at the conference hotel and free conference registration.
Best for: Community college students who love big-format, vector-based work.
5. D&AD New Blood Awards
What it is: D&AD's awards for students and emerging creatives, built on real briefs set by real brands across design, advertising and more. Details on the New Blood Awards page.
Who can enter: Students of any age enrolled in a recognized education program anywhere in the world, plus people over 18 who have not worked six months or more in paid creative roles.
Deadline and timing: In the 2026 cycle, briefs launched on 31 October 2025, entries opened in January 2026 and closed on 17 March 2026. When we checked, the 2027 dates were not posted yet, so keep an eye on the site. Entry costs £15 per submission, or you can get a free voucher by completing a short survey.
What you win: A New Blood Pencil per winning team and a digital certificate for each team member. Black Pencil winners share a £2,000 prize.
Best for: Students who want to practice answering real brand briefs.
Product and industrial design competitions
6. iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD 2027
What it is: One of the biggest international student design awards. Every entry is a concept tied to one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1 to 15). Details on the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD page.
Who can enter: Students currently enrolled at a university, or graduates who finished no more than two years ago, from any country. Teams can have up to four members.
Deadline and timing: 3 February 2027. Registration is free. The final jury meets in Berlin on 23 April 2027, and the awards ceremony is in New York City in June 2027.
What you win: International recognition and a share of a EUR 50,000 prize fund.
Best for: Product, service and communication design students with a strong social or environmental concept.
7. James Dyson Award
What it is: An international award for design engineers. The brief is simple: design something that solves a problem. See how to enter.
Who can enter: Current university students of engineering, product design or industrial design, and people who graduated in those subjects within the last four years. You must have studied in one of the participating countries or regions.
Deadline and timing: The 2026 round ran from 11 March to 15 July 2026, according to the official terms. The next round's dates were not posted when we checked.
What you win: In 2026, national winners received £5,000. The global winner and the sustainability winner each received £30,000. Global runners-up received £5,000.
Best for: Engineering and industrial design students with a working prototype or a strong problem-solving idea.
8. HRI 2027 Student Design Competition
What it is: A design track at the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. The 2027 theme is "Robots in Public Spaces." See the HRI 2027 SDC page.
Who can enter: Student teams of 2 to 5 people, from undergraduate through PhD, in any discipline.
Deadline and timing: Paper (up to four pages) plus an optional video due 20 November 2026 (AoE). The conference runs 8 to 12 March 2027 in Santa Clara, California. At least one team member must attend in person.
What you win: Best Design Award, Public Spaces Award and People's Choice Award.
Best for: Product and interaction designers who like robots and messy real-world settings.
UX and interaction design competitions
9. UX Design Awards: New Talent (Spring 2027)
What it is: The UX Design Awards, run by IDZ, honor user experiences twice a year. The New Talent category is for students. Details on the entry page.
Who can enter: Bachelor's and master's projects from anywhere in the world.
Deadline and timing: Call for entries runs 1 September to 15 November 2026. Winners are announced on 3 March 2027. The New Talent fee is EUR 70 per entry, excluding VAT.
What you win: Expert recognition for your project, and every shortlisted project receives individual jury feedback.
Best for: UX students with a finished thesis or capstone project.
10. HCI International 2027 Student Design Competition
What it is: A video-based design competition at HCI International 2027, held 25 to 30 July 2027 in Berlin. See the HCII 2027 competition page.
Who can enter: College and university undergraduate and graduate students.
Deadline and timing: Submit a video of up to five minutes and a 300-word description by 12 March 2027 (AoE). Accepted entrants must register for the conference by 30 April 2027.
What you win: Gold $1,000, Silver $500 and Bronze $250, plus a plaque and certificate for each winner.
Best for: UX and HCI students who can tell a clear story on video.
11. TEI 2027 Student Design Competition
What it is: A juried track at TEI 2027, the ACM conference on tangible, embedded and embodied interaction, held 24 to 27 January 2027 in Lisbon. The 2027 theme is "Traces." See the TEI 2027 call.
Who can enter: Students at any level, from high school to PhD, in teams of up to five. Only students can be authors.
Deadline and timing: A 2 to 4 page paper is due 9 November 2026 (AoE). At least one team member must register for and attend the conference. The track does not provide travel funding.
What you win: One Best Student Design Award, plus a possible Honorable Mention.
Best for: Students who build physical prototypes, wearables or sensory interfaces.
Merch and apparel design competitions
12. The TinyMerch Challenge
What it is: Our own challenge. Students and ambassadors design merch for TinyFish, the one API that lets AI agents search, read and act on any website. Merch can be anything creative, in any form and any format. If it's creative, it counts. Every entry shows up on the live wall at tinymerch.shop as soon as it is submitted, and anyone can like and comment.
Who can enter: Members of the TinyFish Student Program (sign up with your school email) or the Ambassador Program.
Deadline and timing: Sunday 15 November 2026, 11:59 PM PT.
What you win: The winning design becomes a limited-edition TinyFish drop. The TinyFish team judges, creativity first, and live likes on tinymerch.shop count too.
Best for: Anyone who wants a quick, fun brief where an unexpected idea beats a polished template. Full rules are in our TinyMerch Challenge guide.
Enter the TinyMerch Challenge in four steps
Want a competition you can finish this month? Here is how to enter:
- Join the TinyFish Student Program with your school email (students get $35 in TinyFish credits) or the TinyFish Ambassador Program.
- Claim the TinyMerch Challenge on TinyBounties.
- Upload images of your design and a short note on the idea.
- Share a post on LinkedIn and a post on X that link to tinymerch.shop. Both posts are required.
Need a starting point? Try our merch design ideas and how to design merch. Original work only: copies of other entries or other brands' designs are rejected.
How to choose the right design competition
Use this checklist to narrow it down to one or two.
- Check eligibility first. Some lists are global, some are US-only (FLUX), and some need you to be at a specific type of college (NISOD). Five minutes on the rules saves a wasted weekend.
- Count the weeks you actually have. A two-week deadline suits a bold single piece. A three-month deadline suits a full project with research.
- Match the format to your strengths. Videos (HCII), short papers (TEI, HRI), print posters (Super South) and image uploads (TinyMerch) need different skills.
- Look at the total cost. Add up entry fees and any conference travel. Several of the academic competitions need at least one person to attend in person.
- Pick the jury you want to impress. Ad agencies, product companies and HCI researchers value different things.
- Look at past winners. If they look nothing like your style, think twice.
Tips to win a design competition
Answer the brief, not the brief you wish you had
Write the brief's core question at the top of your file and check every decision against it.
Lead with one strong idea
If you cannot explain your entry in one sentence, simplify it until you can.
Design for the judging criteria
Many sites publish them. Super South, for example, lists originality, creativity, visual impact, conceptual strength, communication of the theme and execution. Treat that list as your checklist.
Show your process when the format allows it
HRI and TEI explicitly reward design rationale. Sketches and rejected alternatives help.
Make it easy to judge
Use the exact dimensions asked for, a short plain description and your best image first.
Use the community when it counts
The TinyMerch Challenge and HRI's People's Choice Award include audience votes, so share your entry. The same skills help in hackathons too, which we cover in how to win a hackathon with AI.
Mistakes to avoid
- Missing the time zone. Deadlines are set in CET, EDT, PT or AoE. Convert them to your time and aim for a day early.
- Ignoring file specs. Wrong size or orientation can disqualify a great design.
- Breaking the tool rules. NISOD, for example, does not allow AI tools, stock images or clip art.
- Reusing someone else's work. Copied designs and other brands' artwork get rejected. Make it yours.
- Skipping required steps. Payment steps, proof of enrollment and social posts are easy to forget. TinyMerch needs both a LinkedIn post and an X post.
- Forgetting conference costs. If attendance is required, plan registration and travel early.
Keep building after the deadline
Want more briefs with real rewards? Look at ways to make money building AI as a student and our list of AI project ideas for college students. For swag inspiration, see our tech swag ideas.
Pick one competition from this list today, put the deadline in your calendar and start sketching. We would love to see what you make on tinymerch.shop.
The TinyMerch Challenge is open to TinyFish students and ambassadors until Sunday 15 November, 11:59 PM PT. See the entries, or join the Student Program or Ambassador Program to enter.
AI disclosure
Content on this website may be created or refined with the assistance of AI tools and is subject to human editorial review.
