60th Korea Design Exhibition Awards Ceremony... Presidential Award Goes to 'Sleeve'

Design Korea 2025
A Record 6,611 Entries Submitted

The Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) announced on November 14 that it held the awards ceremony for the 60th Korea Design Exhibition at the 'Design Korea 2025' event, which took place at COEX Hall D in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the Korea Design Exhibition is the nation’s oldest government-led concept design competition. It is held annually to enhance industrial competitiveness by discovering and nurturing outstanding emerging designers.

The Korea Institute of Design Promotion announced that on the 14th, it held the awards ceremony for the 60th Korea Design Exhibition at the 'Design Korea 2025' event held at COEX Hall D in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Korea Institute of Design Promotion

This year, a total of 6,611 works were submitted to the Korea Design Exhibition, setting a new record for the highest number of entries in a single year and surpassing last year's record of 6,406 entries.

The award-winning works were selected through a three-stage evaluation process (document review, physical review, and final award review) conducted by 456 experts in various design fields, as well as public evaluation and open verification involving 3,589 members of the public. In particular, for the general and university (including graduate) student categories, open presentation evaluations were conducted during the final award review to ensure fairness in the assessment process.

As a result, a total of 78 main prizes were awarded, including one Presidential Award and five Prime Minister’s Awards, along with 489 special prizes and 985 honorable mentions.

The highest honor, the Presidential Award, was given to 'Sleeve,' an upper limb assistive robot designed to help people with limited arm mobility achieve independence in daily life. 'Sleeve' is designed to be worn naturally over clothing without the need for complex equipment. It received high praise for being an everyday assistive device that is easy for anyone to use.

The Prime Minister’s Awards went to works such as the 'E-um Tray: Universal Lunch Tray for Students with Developmental Disabilities' and the 'Clover' ostomy pouch, which assists patients who are unable to defecate after surgical treatment.

Yoon Sangheum, President of KIDP, stated, "We are grateful for the growing interest reflected in the increasing number of competition participants, and at the same time, we feel a great sense of responsibility to discover and nurture talented emerging designers. We will continue to develop growth support programs to foster outstanding works and talent, thereby contributing to the industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.