The 2022 Awards
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2022 Sir Misha Black Medal and the 2022 Sir Misha Black Award. Nomination forms can be downloaded from the Nominations page.
Closing date for submissions is 24 May 2022.
The 2021 Awards
The Sir Misha Black Medal for Distinguished Services to Design Education for 2021 was awarded to Professor Don Norman, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of California, San Diego, USA.
The Medal was presented to him at a Ceremony held at Imperial College London on Tuesday, October 19th 2021, where he delivered a short address on his philosophy on design education.
This Ceremony was combined with the Awarding of the 2020 Medal and the 2020 Awards for Innovation in Design Education.
The 2020 Awards
The Sir Misha Black Medal for 2020 was awarded to Professor Birgit Mager of the University of Applied Sciences, Cologne.
Two Sir Misha Black Awards for 2020 were awarded, one to Oliver Broadbent at Constructivist and another to FixEd, Dee Halligan & Professor Daniel Charny.
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Introduction to the Sir Misha Black Awards
The Sir Misha Black Medal honours those who have given distinguished services to design education. It was the first, and is the only, international award to do so. The Sir Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education salutes innovation in design education in the United Kingdom
The Awards commemorate the work and life of the designer and architect, Professor Sir Misha Black, whose pioneering work played a crucial role in the development of design in Britain.
The first Medal was awarded in 1978 and the first Award for Innovation in 1999. The Awards are conferred by an independent Committee of representatives drawn from the premier design and engineering Institutions and Associations in the United Kingdom, administered by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.
The present committee members represent Founding Bodies, the Design and Industries Association (DIA), the Royal Designers for Industry (RDI), the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), the College of Medallists, Imperial College, London and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.
Celebrating 40 years
The history of the Awards, together with essays on past and contemporary design education by Sir Misha, Medallists and Award Recipients can be found in the book ‘Fitness for What Purpose?’ edited by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling and Mary V Mullin and published in 2018 to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Awards.
Published by Design Manchester / Eyewear Publishing it is available to purchase directly from the publisher’s website or from the Images&Co online shop.