Dutch Design Awards opens nominations for the 2026 Emerging Talent Award—repositioning a new generation of designers working at the forefront of the field. Two decades in, the question is no longer just recognising the “best” or most promising  individual designers, but how to bring them into a shared context—where new ideas, collaborations, and directions can take shape collectively. 

Selected nominees will form the Dutch Design Awards Class of 2026, a group of emerging designers brought together through a shared framework for recognition, exchange, and development.

“We must reclaim our collective thinking. Dutch Design was forged by a shared mindset. We’ve built the legacy; now we move forward. Awards need to be the fertile ground for a new generation to converge and redefine design today,” says Borre Akkersdijk, jury chair Dutch Design Awards 2026. 

Nominations open on Tuesday 31 March 2026 and close on Friday 15 May 2026.

The design community is invited to nominate designers with a clear voice and a critical perspective. We seek those who challenge what came before to create the conditions for what comes next in the field. The next generation is our collective responsibility.

Submissions can be made here.

The 2026 jury will be announced during Milan Design Week in a private event. Updates follow through Dutch Design Awards channels from Thursday 23 April 2026. 

The jury is chaired by Borre Akkersdijk, who continues to build on last year’s renewed format. The jury selection reflects an internationally oriented perspective of leading voices in the field.

Check last year’s jury. 

Nominees will be announced this summer as the Dutch Design Awards Class of 2026.

During Dutch Design Week, the cohort will come together in Eindhoven, culminating in an award ceremony on Saturday 17 October 2026. From this group, three designers will each receive a €10,000 grant supporting the further development of their practice, made possible by Keep an Eye Foundation, which supports emerging and creative talent.

More importantly, the recognition situates them within a broader network — connecting emerging designers to the wider design field, both nationally and internationally.

The fifteen nominees of the Emerging Talent Award 2025:

Espace AYGO, Théophile Blandet, Vera van der Burg, Bas Emaus, Sho Ota, Futurall (Eva Oosterlaken & Finn Strivens), Willem de Haan, Fons de Haan, Plasticiet (Marten van Middelkoop & Joost Dingemans), Hussein Shikha, Johanna Seelemann, Kurina Sohn, Nanno Simonis, Joone Joonam, Amir Zaza.

Explore their work here.

Photo: Almicheal Fraay