Design Management Excellence (DME) Award

The annual Design Management Excellence (DME) Award is the only international award dedicated to the management of design in private or public sector organisations. It recognises the ongoing processes, business decisions and strategies that enable innovation and create effectively designed products, services, communications, environments and brands providing organizational success. From preparing a design brief for an external design consultancy to the complete integration of design in the business model; all such practices are different for every organisation but require appropriate design management to be successful.
 
Since 2007, the DME Award has been organised by PDR and a network of international Design Organisations. Since November 2012, PDR has been the leading partner of the DME Award, holding two of current seven DME Award board positions (Gavin Cawood – President, Sebastian Hesselmann – Technical Officer). The primary objective of the DME Award is the promotion of the strategic use of design in order to increase the competitiveness of industry and the effectiveness of public services. The DME Award is open to both the private and public sectors and is divided into five categories of size and type of organisation.
 
From the completion of a questionnaire to the design of a poster, the entrants present their design management processes, strategies and procedures to a jury of internationally recognised Design Management experts who short-lists candidates and choose the final category winners.

Over 500 organisations of all sizes and from all sectors have entered the DME Award to achieve international recognition and benchmark themselves against past winners such as Procter & Gamble, Virgin Atlantic, GSK and Autodesk.