Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Announces Winners and Finalists of the 11th Annual National Design Awards

Fifth Annual National Design Week to Be Held Oct. 9-17

NEW YORK, June 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will celebrate outstanding achievement in design this fall with its 11th annual National Design Awards program. Today, Cooper-Hewitt Director Bill Moggridge announced the winners and finalists of the 2010 National Design Awards, which recognize excellence across a variety of disciplines. The Award recipients will be honored at a gala dinner Thursday, Oct. 14, at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. First Lady Michelle Obama serves as the Honorary Patron for this year's National Design Awards.

"The context in which designers and design thinkers operate is expanding all the time, as evidenced by the work of these award winners. These design pioneers are committed to shaping how we live through design and their work truly responds to the pressing issues of the day," said Moggridge.

The 2010 National Design Award nominations were solicited from a committee of more than 2,500 designers, educators, journalists, cultural figures and corporate leaders from every state in the nation. Nominees must have at least seven years of experience in order to be nominated, and winners are selected based on the level of excellence, innovation and public impact of their body of work. This year's jury of design leaders and educators from across the country convened by Cooper-Hewitt reviewed the nominations and chose the following recipients:

Lifetime Achievement: Jane Thompson

Design Mind: Ralph Caplan

Corporate and Institutional Achievement: U.S. Green Building Council

Finalists: Design that Matters and OXO

Architecture Design: KieranTimberlake

Finalists: Lake|Flato Architects and Design Corps

Communication Design: Stephen Doyle

Finalists: John Jay and Maira Kalman

Fashion Design: Rodarte

Finalists: Behnaz Sarafpour and Proenza Schouler

Interaction Design: Lisa Strausfeld

Finalists: Potion and Local Projects

Interior Design: William Sofield

Finalists: Clive Wilkinson Architects and Aidlin Darling Design

Landscape Design: James Corner Field Operations

Finalists: Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture and Stoss Landscape Urbanism

Product Design: Smart Design

Finalists: Continuum and Frog Design

First launched at the White House in 2000 as a project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards were established to promote excellence and innovation in design. The Awards are accompanied each year by a variety of public education programs, including National Design Week, Oct. 9-17.

To learn more, visit www.nationaldesignawards.org.

The National Design Awards are made possible in part by Bloomberg and Procter & Gamble.

National Design Week is made possible in part by the generous sponsorship of Target.

About Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. Founded in 1897, the museum has been a branch of the Smithsonian since 1967. The museum presents compelling perspectives on the impact of design on daily life through active educational programs, exhibitions and publications.

SOURCE Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum