Judging for the 2020 Shaw Contract Design Awards is well and truly under way!

This year, judges will be doing things a little differently. For the first time in its 15-year history, the awards program will be judged entirely virtually.

But rather than hinder the jury, this shift online has allowed Shaw Contract to expand its selection panel to include elite industry leaders from all over the world.

Together, they’ll be selecting the projects that best represent the Shaw Contract Design Awards goal, which is to place a spotlight on a diverse range of global talents, celebrating design in action and purposefully rewarding the innovative and truly inspiring work being done by the architecture and design community.

The ANZ judges

Representing Australia and New Zealand on this year’s panel are three amazing judges.

The first is Mia Feasey, who founded Siren Design in Sydney in 2005 as a place for creatives to thrive.

With ambition, hard work and an ability to think differently, Siren has flourished from a disruptive start-up into Australasia’s leading interior design consultancy.

With studios across Australia, Singapore and most recently New York, Siren uses creativity to influence the way business regenerates the planet, and has created award-winning projects for some of the most innovative companies on the globe including Google, Facebook, Uber, Atlassian, Visa, KPMG, PWC and Pfizer.

Feasey will be joined by Heidi Smith, partner at Gray Puksand in Melbourne. With almost 30 years of experience designing award-winning workspaces, Smith is a workspace strategy expert.

Passionate about Australian architecture and design, Smith leads the way with new methods and advancements in workspace design, culture and management styles.

She strives to deliver spaces that enhance and support an aspirational corporate culture, and her strength lies in affecting positive culture change through comprehensive workspace design.

The final local judge is Harry Rowntree, design principal at Unispace Auckland.

Rowntree has extensive international workplace experience, enjoying partnerships with many large organisations and brands.

With a background in architecture, Rowntree designed several residential projects before travelling to Japan to work alongside luminaries like Masaki Kasuya and Taiji Yamamoto.

Returning to New Zealand in 2010, he has continued to drive innovative and transformative interior solutions on a large scale, collecting multiple awards along the way.

Feasey, Rowntree and Smith will be part of the panel that reviews all the globally submitted projects in the Education and Small Office categories, selecting the Category Finalists and Final Award winners.

They’ll be joined by Boston Architectural College’s Dean of Interior Architecture Denise Rush, Daimler North America corporate real estate manager Ronnie Belizaire and Whitney Architects design director Kate Logan.

Cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award

The 2020 Shaw Contract Design Awards program is now officially closed for entries.

Next on the ballot is the People’s Choice Award. It’s your time to pick a space that you love. A space that creates positive impacts on how we work, live, learn and heal.

Every vote counts. Cast your vote on 2nd November! https://www.shawcontract.com/en-AU/Design/Design-Awards