Out of 1517 entries, 35 were awarded the coveted Gold award, while 77 received Silver awards and 93 won Bronze awards. For the first time this year, 389 finalists were named in addition to the winners. For the first time in the history of the competition, the expert jury bestowed two “Best in Show” awards: one to SizeChina, a design research project that assembled data from a representative cross-section of people from mainland China to create the first-ever digital database of Chinese head and face shapes; and the other to Apple’s now-iconic iPhone.

Showing a continuing upward trend in international participation, 109 designs from 25 countries outside the US were given an IDEA Award: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, People's Republic of China, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom. 2008 also marked the inaugural year of IDEA/Brasil, organized by Objeto Brasil and endorsed by IDSA, to spur interest in design from Brazilian corporations as well as to heighten global awareness of Brazil’s rich design heritage. Out of 53 pre-judged Brazilian Finalists, 12 were honored with IDEA Awards, a remarkable success for the program’s first year.

BusinessWeek announced the winners July 18 with an in-depth analysis of the winners in print and online. IDSA’s quarterly magazine, Innovation, will publish information on the Gold, Bronze and Silver winners as well as the finalists in its Yearbook of Design Excellence this fall.

A “People’s Choice” award will also be presented when the winners are honored in a formal ceremony at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Saturday, September 13, the final day of the anticipated 2008 IDSA National Conference & Education Symposium, followed by a gala celebration. Winners will be displayed in the conference’s Design Gallery. All 205 winners with descriptions, photos and contacts will be featured on the IDSA Web site www.idsa.org, beginning July 18.

Stay tuned to www.idsa.org/idea for information about the 2009 IDEA program.