Taiwan International Student Design Competition celebrates 2025 winners

The 2025 Taiwan International Student Design Competition (TISDC) held its award ceremony this week, recognising 76 winning works selected from a record 16,329 submissions representing 1,029 schools across 73 countries and regions. Organised by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education and executed by National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), the competition remains one of the world’s largest platforms for emerging design talent.

Taiwanese students delivered a strong performance, taking home the Grand Prix, the Gold Prizes in Visual Design and Fashion Design, and a total of 43 awarded works, underscoring the country’s creativity and international competitiveness.

This year’s theme, “Diversity,” aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and encouraged participants to explore cultural, environmental and social perspectives through design. Two new categories — Architecture & Landscape Design and Fashion Design — were introduced, expanding the competition’s interdisciplinary reach.

A jury of 50 professionals from 15 countries selected the winners, with the competition’s overall winning rate at just 0.5%. Awards spanned Product Design, Visual Design, Digital Animation, Architecture & Landscape Design, and Fashion Design. Additional honours included 21 International Design Association Special Prizes, three Environmental Sustainability Awards, and six Special Region Awards, supported by the iSee Taiwan Foundation and the TPCA Environment Foundation.

The award ceremony took place on December 9 at NCCU’s Center for Public and Business Administration Education, followed by an international student exchange session. An exhibition of winning works is being held at the NTUST Art Gallery from December 9–14.