How to Craft a Great Interior Design Contest Submission

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The perks of winning an interior design contest are plentiful, from prizes, prestige, and visual aids for marketing to networking and media coverage opportunities.

But there are pros to simply entering a design contest as well. Knowing you want to participate in one can push you creatively, force you to keep your portfolio tidy and updated with professional photography, and encourage you to stay connected with industry organizations.

Whether you’re planning to submit an entry for the first time or you’ve participated in multiple contests, we’ll share tips anyone can use to boost their chances of taking home a title.

2023 Gold Winner at the Georgia Design Awards

Interior Designer: Cristi Holcombe Image Credit: CatMax Photography

How to Choose a Contest

With competitions held by publications, industry organizations, and others, options abound. To help narrow your choices down to your top 1 or 2, review the entry processes of contests you're interested in as early as possible to get an idea of how time-consuming each one is and decide which ones you can realistically devote your energy to. It’ll also be easy to eliminate contests you don’t have the materials for or can’t get quickly.

A Look at Categories

If you can, enter as many categories as possible in a contest. Since you’re already taking the time to enter, you might as well increase your chances of winning by putting your name in multiple categories.

Plus, Margaret P. Walden of Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove explains that with some contests, such as her company’s Kitchen Design Contest, specific categories may be easier to enter than others, saying, for example, “There are some less obvious categories like ‘Outside of the Kitchen’ that can be entered with less requirements.”

It’s also helpful to consider if the materials you have for a submission show your work at its absolute best. For example, say you have a project that fits a contest’s category perfectly but it’s an older one with low-quality outdated photos. It’s probably best to pass on that one if you can’t find an equally fitting project to submit with great photography.

Cristi Holcombe, founder of Cristi Holcombe Interiors and CH Home and a 2023 Atlanta Magazine HOME and Atlanta magazine Georgia Design Award (GDA) winner, also considered the number of photos she had for her entries. “The submission categories were set by GDA, so I looked through our bank of projects and figured out the best of the best within each category. I also made sure to choose projects that I had at least 2 shots of. I don't know if that helped or not, but I wanted to make sure they saw as much of the project as possible.”

Deciding Which Projects to Submit

Obviously, you want to choose your best work that best fits the category requirements, but it’s also important to stay focused on what the contest is truly looking for in a winning project. For example, Walden says of the Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove Kitchen Design Contest, “It’s encouraged to keep in mind that this is not a ‘how-many-appliances-can-you-fit-in-a-kitchen contest,’ but truly a kitchen design contest.”

Cami Adair of the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (ADAC), which hosts the Southeast Designers and Architect of the Year Contest, also says to make sure your work highlights your unique perspective. “If a designer is sharing more than one project, they should share projects that exemplify the variety and range of their work. Our judging process is blind-coded, so the judges, which include a notable interior designer, architect, and a top editor from VERANDA, are judging the quality and integrity of the overall projects, including technical skills and range,” she says. “Also, don’t overlook smaller projects, as we’ve had single room submissions take home awards before, so it’s really anyone’s game. Our categories are specific, so it’s generally easy for designers to select the correct category.”

2023 Gold Winner at the Georgia Design Awards

ArchitectL TS Adams Image Credit: CatMax Photography

How to Make Your Submission Stand Out

Arguably, the most important part of the entry process is finding ways to make your submission stand out – and, hopefully, enough so that it wins.

One thing you may have yet to think much about is the written aspect of contests. Holcombe and Walden say these can make a big difference and shouldn't be glossed over.

Holcombe advises, “Make sure that you compose a thoughtful summary with the submissions. I wasn't sure if they would be using the copy that I specifically wrote or if it would be recreated. They read it at the awards as well as used it in the magazine verbatim. I'm glad I put time into the summaries. I don't know if that had an impact on the judging, but I'm assuming it did.”

Walden says, “Write specific and concise responses to entry questions. Judges use the responses to learn about the project from your perspective.” Adair reiterates the importance of being thorough but succinct with project descriptions.

Your submission also needs to be the best it can be visually. Walden says to be sure to provide:

  • Clean, labeled drawings (if required)

  • Great images that are high-resolution with good lighting – professional photography is paramount. Consider these things when photographing a project for a contest:

    o Showcase all appliances in the photos (if applicable), so the judges can see how they’re incorporated into the design

    o Declutter surfaces like countertops and tables, clearing items such as kitchen towels and sponges, magazines, keys, and seasonal decorations

    o Don’t include people in the photos

Adairs says ADAC also encourages contest participants to not only include quality photos but also arrange them in an order that creates a wow factor.

Again, it's essential overall to ensure your submission matches the contest's mission. “The quality of the work is always what shines through. Entries come from top designers from across our 10-state region, so it’s never easy for the judges to narrow down the submission and select a winner, but the winning projects are always thoughtful and well executed,” says Adair of winners of the Southeast Designers and Architect of the Year Contest. She adds, “Design professionals that understand the needs of their clients create homes and boutique contract projects that speak to the high standards of their clients, and that level of commitment and expertise to the craft is always key.”

Tips for Making the Most of Winning

If you do happen to win a design contest, first of all, congratulations! Second, you’ll want to make the most of winning. Not only is this a great recognition of your and your team's talents and hard work, but it's also a chance to continue to elevate your business and gain higher-end clients, boost your marketing, and make connections with other pros.

Here’s what Holcombe did when she won her Georgia Design Award. “We attended the event with our whole team, as well as with Catrina [who photographed the winning project]. It was a great opportunity to post about a fun event on our platforms rather than a project. On social, we were able to post about that evening in real-time and also about winning the award the following day. We were also able to add the award to our media page. We have the award on display in our office as well. It's great for clients and potential clients to be able to see that we were recognized, and it potentially tips the scale our way when a potential client is making a final decision on their designer.”

Contests to Consider Entering in 2024 and Beyond

Entering interior design contests is exciting, nerve-wracking, and certainly, work, but the experience is worth it, and winning can help take your career to the next level.

Photography can make or break your submission. As wonderful as smartphone cameras are, they still can’t replace a professional photographer, especially one experienced in interior and architecture photography, as CatMax Photography founder, Catrina Maxwell is. If you’re ready to get a project photographed and ready for entry in a design contest, she’d love to talk to you.