The Future Anything Challenge wins Good Design Award

The Future Anything Challenge, an in-curriculum program that unleashes enterprising thinkers and doers in primary and secondary schools, has been recognised in Australia’s International Good Design Awards for Excellence in Design and Innovation.

The winners of Australia’s peak international design awards were announced on Friday 8 September at the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards in front of more than 1000 guests from the design and architecture community.

Future Anything's flagship program received a prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade in the Service Design category in recognition of outstanding design and innovation.

The Good Design Awards Jury commented: “The Future Anything Challenge [formerly Activate] uses design thinking and collaborative research to create a program that effectively adapts to the fast-changing environment students will face as they enter employment, creating our future thinkers and doers — brilliant work.”

Dr. Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Australia and Chair of the Australian Good Design Awards said “To be recognised with an Australian Good Design Award tells the world this project not only represents design excellence, but it also surpasses the criteria for design innovation and design impact. The Good Design Award is an independent endorsement of professional design quality,”

Nicole Dyson, Founder & CEO and members of the Future Anything team were in Melbourne to receive the award on Friday 8 September 2023. Nic said “Design thinking is at the very core of The Future Anything Challenge, which empowers teachers to bring the latest in entrepreneurial pedagogy and Project Based Learning to young people in classrooms around Australia. Designed in-house by our own team of innovative educators and curriculum experts, with ongoing collaboration with educators from a diverse mix of schools, The Future Anything Challenge connects students’ learning in the classroom to life outside the school gates. We’re honoured to see The Future Anything Challenge being recognised by the Australian design community with a Good Design Award."

The Good Design Awards are the highest honour for design and innovation in the country and reward diverse projects across 11 Design Disciplines covering more than 35 Categories and Subcategories. Each year, the Awards celebrate the best new products and services on the Australian and international market, excellence in architectural design, engineering, fashion, digital and communication design, and reward new and emerging areas of design including design strategy, social impact design, design research and up-and-coming design talent in the next-gen category.

The 2023 Good Design Awards attracted high-quality design projects from Australia and around the world. These innovative projects were evaluated by more than 70 Australian and international Jurors, including designers, engineers, architects and thought leaders. More than 900 entries were evaluated according to a strict set of design evaluation criteria which includes Good Design, Design Innovation and Design Impact.

Dr Gien continued “Some of the Award-winning projects from this year’s Good Design Awards are truly ground-breaking. There are so many inspiring impact-led projects this year that have embraced the power of design as a problem-solving tool – their design stories deserve to be recognised and celebrated at the highest level. We are proud to continue the legacy of celebrating design, and designers making a positive impact on our world. The Good Design Awards showcase what true design excellence looks like, to inspire others to greatness – that’s exactly what these Awards are about.”

‍ Projects recognised with an Australian Good Design Award demonstrate excellence in professional design and highlight the impact a design-led approach has on business success and social and environmental outcomes.

‍“The Good Design Awards recognise and celebrate the transformative power of design to find innovative, customer-centric solutions to local and global challenges. My sincere congratulations to all the designers, engineers, architects and innovators recognised in this year’s Awards - you deserve to be celebrated at the highest level possible,” Dr. Gien concluded.