Judging Process

The Australian Interior Design Awards (AIDA) is the only interior design awards program in Australia that is 100 percent peer judged.

This means that:

  • the profile of the judges is aligned with the awards entrants in terms of practice, background and geography
  • juries are therefore composed of highly regarded practitioners with a deep understanding of the local landscape, market and conditions
  • sponsors, celebrities, journalists and academics are not eligible for AIDA juries.

In addition, the AIDA judging process complies with the guidelines of the Design Institute of Australia and the International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers.

This means that:

  • the judging panel is consistent from initial shortlisting all the way through to agreeing on the Premier Award for Australian Interior Design
  • a jury convenor is appointed by the Design Institute of Australia to oversee the selection of judges and to ensure that the judging process is ethical and transparent
  • clear and demonstrable judging criteria are identified and communicated to the jury in advance.

To ensure that AIDA judging is professional and robust:

  • a diversity of location, gender and sub-discipline is applied to the selection of judges
  • people’s choice and unjudged awards are excluded from the program
  • the judges spend two days in face-to-face meetings reviewing, analysing and discussing the entries.

NOTE
The judging process is anonymous and confidential. To ensure anonymity in judging, no names of applicants or collaborating parties may appear on submitted images, drawings or written support materials.

Jurors must declare any perceived conflict of interest regarding an entry and step down from the panel for assessment of that entry. If the project progresses beyond the shortlisting phase to consideration for either a commendation or award, the juror is excused from judging the entire category.

At the jury’s discretion, entries may be recognized for demonstrating exemplary standards in their category beyond those outlined in the category requirements, or to reflect the changing nature of design practice.

The Jury reserves the right to re-classify the project to a more appropriate category, if deemed necessary.

Jury decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.