2025 Student Awards

Deadline: May 23, 2025

The RGD's longest-running program, this annual competition, recognizes communication design excellence from students across Canada.

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Why enter

FAQs

Industry Sponsors

2025 Categories

Our judging panel is chosen from senior professionals from across the country who will provide invaluable feedback on every entry. This is an incredible opportunity for all undergrad and post-graduate students.

Prize Breakdown

First-place entries will receive $1,000 (sometimes shared if there is a tie in the judges' scoring), 12 months of free Membership in the RGD (Associate RGD or Student RGD depending on the entrants' eligibility), awards certificates and recognition on RGD communications channels.
Approx. 100 students selected to receive Honourable Mention will receive awards certificates and 6 months of free Membership in the RGD (Associate RGD or Student RGD, depending on the entrants' eligibility).
ALL entrants receive constructive feedback on their work from one or more judges (100+ senior industry professionals).

Who can enter

Students enrolled in an UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM at any time between  September 2024 and August 2025 and with less than one year of professional experience in design can submit up to 4 entries across the competition.
Students enrolled in a POST-GRADUATE PROGRAM between September 2024 and August 2025 and with less than one year of professional design experience can submit up to 4 entries in the Accessibility, UX, Information Design and Motion categories.
Students can attend public and private institutions if listed as designated learning institutions by the Canadian Government.
Students who are attending public institutions outside of Canada are eligible if they are Canadian citizens.

Entry fees

Free: Student RGD Member
Students (who are not Members of the RGD): $40 (covers up to 4 entries)

Entry criteria

Any work by an eligible Student may be submitted.
Please review the descriptions of the Awards below to determine in what categories your project(s) best fit. (A project can be entered in multiple categories.)
Student award entries must adhere to Canadian copyright and intellectual property laws that respect the rights of other creatives, designers, writers and authors of original works. If any part of your final submission includes text or visuals produced by AI or another writer, designer, artist or creative, it must be cited on the submission form.

Uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Student Award Submissions)

AI is a broad term that includes many different applications and software, platforms, tools and methods and resources that may be used in the ideation, production and execution of design projects and the RGD acknowledges that designers must understand new technologies while being critical of their applications in design practices.
AI should not be used to write your design rationales for award submissions. Rationales articulate your unique reflections for design decisions and critical thinking in the development and creative choices for projects. AI may be used to assist you in the proofreading process such as to check spelling and grammar.

How to enter

In January, access to the entry platform will be provided.

Judging

Our judging panel is chosen from senior professionals from across the country who will provide feedback on every entry. If you wish to judge the Student Awards, please complete the form.

Results

The RGD will notify winners by September 2025.
Feedback will be emailed to all entrants in November 2025. (Please ensure that the email you use to submit your entry will be active in the fall if you are graduating between April and November 2025

More info

We want to make it easy for you to enter this competition, setting you up for a successful entry.
Visit our FAQ section, for some of the frequently asked questions we receive.
If you don’t see an answer to your question, or just need more clarification, please email info@rgd.ca.