The Young Designer Prize, Lithuania’s annual competition celebrating emerging design talent, has attracted significant interest this year, with 91 student projects submitted by participants from five higher education institutions in Lithuania and abroad.
The competition now enters its final stage, as an independent international jury of design professionals from Sweden, Estonia, Italy, and the Netherlands begins evaluating the submissions.
This year’s entries highlight the diversity of contemporary design practice among young creators. The Design Research category, open to master’s graduates, received the highest number of submissions with 26 projects. The Fashion Design, Product Design, and Communication Design categories each attracted 18 entries, while 11 projects were submitted in Interior Design.
The winners will be announced on 10 September during the opening of the Young Designer Prize exhibition and awards ceremony at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNMA) in Vilnius. Each winner will receive a €1,500 prize, a diploma, and awards presented by the competition’s partners.
Two-Stage Selection Process
Projects will be assessed according to four key criteria: originality, relevance, functionality, and quality of execution.
The selection process consists of two stages. First, the jury will shortlist 15 outstanding projects, which will be presented in the Young Designer Prize exhibition opening in September.
In the final stage, held in Vilnius ahead of the exhibition opening, the shortlisted designers will present their work to the jury in person, offering insights into their creative process and design decisions. Following these presentations and a review of the exhibition, the jury will select one winner in each of the competition’s five categories.
International Expertise Across Design Disciplines
This year’s jury brings together internationally recognised professionals working across design, architecture, innovation, and research. Their expertise spans product, fashion, and service design, architecture, urbanism, digital technologies, design research, and public-sector innovation.
Despite their diverse backgrounds, the jury members share a commitment to creating meaningful, human-centred solutions that integrate technological innovation, sustainability, cultural awareness, and creative thinking.
„We are delighted that the Young Designer Prize continues to attract such a distinguished international jury,” says Daina Eičaitė, Project Manager at the Design Innovation Centre of the Vilnius Academy of Arts and organiser of the competition.
„This autumn, the jury members will come to Vilnius to experience the shortlisted projects firsthand. These meetings often become the starting point for new professional connections and future collaborations. I also warmly invite everyone to attend our Design Talks lecture series, where the jury members will share insights into their work, discuss current challenges in design, and offer advice to the next generation of designers.”
Design Talks: Open Lectures with the International Jury
Ahead of the awards ceremony, the international jury will participate in Design Talks, a public lecture series taking place on 9 September at 11:00 a.m. at the Design Innovation Centre of the Vilnius Academy of Arts (Maironio St. 3, Room 112, Vilnius).
The event is free of charge and open to students, design professionals, and anyone interested in contemporary design.
Meet the jury
Linda Lissola (Sweden)
Linda Lissola works at the intersection of design research, strategy, foresight and product development. With a background in studies of urban design and industrial design, she has worked with hardware design in Milan, Lund and Tokyo, in both design consultant agencies and large corporations.
Between 2016 and 2026, she was part of the core team leading Sony Design’s global research, facilitating the analysis and synthesis work through global workshops, and heading up European research. The last two years, this research resulted in magazines, SIGNALS, translating innovation and storytelling into a format for a broader audience.
Antonio Lo Presti (Italy)
Antonio Lo Presti is an architect and currently the owner and CEO of the Koefia Academy in Rome, one of the first of its kind to be founded in Italy. A lover of cinema, photography, comics, and science fiction literature, he blends his passions with his work and creativity. Before devoting himself exclusively to the Academy, he worked as an architect specializing in exhibition design.
Since 1999, after studying patternmaking in Milan, Paris, and Los Angeles, he has taught subjects with a strong digital component: digital illustration, CAD CAM, CLO3D, and Texturing.
Willem van Hooff (The Netherlands)
Willem van Hooff is a designer based in Eindhoven, driven by a passion for uncovering the potential of forgotten techniques, materials, and products. His work explores the raw and authentic qualities of these elements, reinterpreting their stories through contemporary design and a distinctive visual language. Willem believes that meaningful design goes beyond function and aesthetics—it should have a mind, a body, and a soul. Through a strong dedication to craftsmanship, he creates objects that preserve and celebrate overlooked histories, giving them a renewed purpose and future in a world shaped by mass production.
Pärtel Vurma (Estonia)
Pärtel Vurma is CEO, Design Lead, and Partner at Velvet, Estonia’s largest and most awarded strategic design agency. Velvet creates brands, digital products, and services for public institutions and international companies, earning numerous regional and global awards. Pärtel has led service design projects for major Estonian public e-services, including the renowned e-Tax system and services for the Estonian Statistics Board. As a design educator, he trains civil servants in applying design thinking to public services. He has served on juries for leading Baltic creative competitions. His work is guided by clarity, simplicity, empathy, and user-centered design at every stage.
Francesca Pedroni (Italy)
Francesca Pedroni is an architect and project leader at Scandurra Studio in Milan, where she has worked for six years on international architecture and urban design projects ranging from buildings and public spaces to interiors and product design. She previously gained experience at leading firms in Italy and Belgium. Her notable projects include the expansion of Museo del Novecento in Milan, the redevelopment of public squares in Bergamo province, and a new school complex with an urban park in Brescia. Alongside professional practice, she researches urban dynamics, co-founded the participatory design collective “Pasta Madre,” and has taught in ULB Brussels and Politecnico di Milano.
