The Pro Carton Young Designers Award, Europe’s leading annual young talent competition for packaging design, is open for entries for 2026. The Award plays a pioneering role in promoting sustainability, as it is the only design competition focusing exclusively on cartonboard design. The main prize for 2026 will be a two-day all expenses paid trip to visit one of European’s leading converters and manufacturers. During the trip, students will get a behind-the-scenes look at the cartonboard lifecycle from start to finish. Students will meet with experts and receive critical feedback on their winning designs and have countless networking opportunities.

Read more about Pro Carton Young Designers Award 2026 on Contest Watchers.

Photometria are pleased to announce the open call for the 18th edition of the Photometria Photography Festival. As the festival reaches its 18th edition, it symbolically enters a phase of maturity, capable of reflecting on and exploring central issues of transition. Coming of Age (18+) focuses on the process of coming of age, not as a chronological or legal milestone, but as a multifaceted condition shaped by internal and social ruptures, redefinitions, and acts of self-determination. The Festival will award three (3) main prizes provided by sponsors and host an exhibition of the best 25 selected works.

Read more about Photometria Awards 2026: Coming of Age (18+) on Contest Watchers.

Film submissions are now open for the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) 2026, scheduled for 23–27 September 2026. Short and feature animated films, completed after 31 May 2025 are eligible to enter the Festival’s competition programs. This year, the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) will award a total of seventeen (16) different prizes across four (4) main competition categories.

Read more about Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) 2026 on Contest Watchers.

4Tomorrow Association is pleased to announce the 14th edition of poster for tomorrow on the theme “Dignity”. The competition’s aim is to promote graphic design as a tool for social change. The best 10 poster designs will be exhibited in Lecce, Italy.

Read more about Poster for Tomorrow 2026-2027: Dignity on Contest Watchers.

Non Architecture is hosting the HEALING GARDEN – Certosa Park – Design Contest — the first in a sequence of six design contests developed within the European project Sleeping Beauty – Nature Meets Bauhaus. Participants are invited to design a buildable Healing Garden within the defined intervention area of Parco della Certosa. €7,500 will be awarded to the winning proposal as a compensation fee to further develop their design for construction.

Read more about HEALING GARDEN – Certosa Park – Design Contest on Contest Watchers.

Posterheroes has opened the 15th edition of their international social design contest — Still Human, dedicated to exploring humanity and human diversity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Every year, Posterheroes invites students, professional designers, and everyone who is into graphic design to create a poster about topics of social interest. All the works are judged by a selection panel composed of some of the most relevant graphic design and visual communication experts that choses 40 winning posters. Among the forty (40) winners, the Organizers will award the Favini Prize, worth €2,500 and the Time2 Prize, worth €1,500.

Read more about Posterheroes 2026 – Still Human on Contest Watchers.

The Architecture & Design Community (ADC) officially invites you to the 4th edition of the Design Skill Awards 2026. If you’ve created work that deserves a global audience and a permanent place in the professional conversation, your journey starts here. Submit your work and gain international recognition among leading designers, studios, and creative professionals.

Read more about Design Skill Awards 2026 on Contest Watchers.

The sixth Radicepura Garden Festival announces an international competition for the selection of garden designers. It is launched on an international scale as an open call for ideas. The theme for 2027 is “Gardens of Hope: Cultivating Coexistence“. Eight (8) winning projects will be realized by their teams and will be guided and supervised by the Radicepura staff. The total budget for the realization of each garden – strictly for construction costs –  is €10,000.

Read more about Radicepura Garden Festival 2027 – Call for Ideas on Contest Watchers.

The Micro Living 2026 Architecture Competition invites participants to design more than a compact house by reimagining the logic of living itself to transform limitation into intelligence, and density into opportunity. Marking a decade of pioneering global design discourse, Volume Zero is proud to announce the launch of its 29th international architecture competition. This landmark edition marks a significant milestone in Volume Zero’s 10-year journey as a “curator of potential,” continuing our commitment to a new wave of architecture that is as responsive as it is resilient. As our world shifts toward unprecedented fluidity where we work, connect, and relocate with increasing speed the traditional rigid script of “the home” is being rewritten. Micro Living challenges the global design community to step beyond the constraints of shrinking footprints and instead expand the logic of possibility. This is an invitation to architects, designers, and thinkers to join a decade-long legacy of innovation and help reimagine how 250 square feet can transform from a limitation into a powerful model for urban intelligence.

Read more about Micro Living 2026 Architecture Competition on Contest Watchers.

Confindustria Ceramica (the Italian Association of Ceramics) and the Italian Trade Agency are proud to announce that the 2026 edition of the Ceramics of Italy International Tile Competition is now open for entries. For the first time, Ceramics of Italy’s two long-standing competitions — the 30-year North American Design Competition and the 11-year La Ceramica e il Progetto based in Italy — are joining forces to recognize the best projects featuring Italian ceramic and porcelain tile on a global scale. The program expands the competition to honor outstanding projects by architects and interior designers worldwide that utilize ceramic and porcelain tile from Ceramics of Italy member brands. Selected by an esteemed international jury, winners will receive cash prizes and join a CEU-accredited trip to Bologna, Italy, where they will be honored at a special VIP award ceremony during Cersaie 2026 – the world’s leading exhibition for ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings.

Read more about 2026 Ceramics of Italy International Tile Competition on Contest Watchers.