Nippon Paint’s Asia Young Designer Awards Enters 13th Year

Organized by Nippon Paint, the Asia Young Designer Awards (AYDA), will see its 13th year of empowering young, budding designers to be agents of change by creating a positive impact, through design, within their communities. 

Held annually, student participants go through a rigorous selection process to proudly represent their countries for the title of Asia Young Designer of the Year 2019/20 at an international level. 

Last year’s winner, Tanay Bothara from India, spent six weeks attending the Design Discovery Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design; an entire experience worth $10,000 fully sponsored by Nippon Paint.

“During my time at Harvard University’s GSD, I personally had the chance to design a unique civic center project, which provided me with rare insights from design experts from around the world,” Bothara said. “It was a great learning opportunity and I’m glad my journey landed me here. I encourage students to take part in AYDA to be able to experience what I have been able to. All it takes is the courage to pursue the competition knowing you have nothing to lose and only so much to gain.”

In 2018, Nippon Paint announced the establishment of the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund at the Harvard GSD – a fund that has been providing financial aid to GSD students from Asian countries for the past two years. This partnership brings an additional program that rewards the Regional Winners of AYDA a six-week, all-expenses-paid experience at the university. 

“Nippon Paint conceptualized AYDA as part of the brand’s inclusive business project to empower and groom budding architects and interior designers across Asia and we are very proud to have been able to showcase the extraordinary pool of talents we come across throughout the years with AYDA,” said Wee Siew Kim, group CEO of NIPSEA Management Company Pte. Ltd. (Subsidiary of Nippon Paint Holdings Co.)

Nippon Paint has made the call to present this year’s awards via a virtual ceremony attended by international judges and finalists representing their country for the grand title of categories in AYDA. 

The event will see finalists present their award-winning work to a panel of judges in the Interior Design Category and Architectural Category on July 8 and 9, respectively. 

The finalists will also engage in a 10-minutes Q&A session with the judges and two of the 26 finalists will walk away with the grand title of each category.

The initiative by Nippon Paint will also organize international webinars where professionals from the industry and young designers are able to bring their knowledge and talents together.

Since being founded in 2008, AYDA has grown exponentially, garnering more than 35,000 entries from more than 1,200 tertiary educational institutions across 15 geographical locations that recognize Asia Young 

Designers around the world and also offers sub-award prizes in each category:

• Nippon Paint Colour Award – $1,000;
• Best Design Impact Award – $1,000;
• Best Sustainable Design Award – $1,000