The awards
Everything the awards are
One cycle a year, judged by a jury and decided in public voting. Start here, then follow whichever part you came for.
The awards, and who stands behind them
One cycle a year. Work is entered in a category, verified against the tier it was entered in, scored by an assigned jury against published criteria, and then ranked by public vote inside its own group.
The programme is run by the association that convenes the jury and holds the criteria. It is not a magazine list and not a paid placement: every entry goes through the same six phases, and every rule that decides a result is written down before entries open.
Association membership and the academy programme sit outside this site.
- Categories
- 10
- Groups
- 27
- Tiers
- 3
- Medals awarded
- 119
Categories
Groups
Tiers
Medals awarded
Three levels of award
Every sub-category awards its own gold, silver and bronze, and it awards them inside each tier. A student is ranked against students, an agency against agencies.
Gold
The highest scoring project in its group.
Silver
Second in its group.
Bronze
Third in its group.
81 groups this cycle: 27 sub-categories across 3 tiers. Each one awards its own gold, silver and bronze.
How it works
Six phases, one cycle
From entry to award, this is the route every project takes, and when each part of it opens.
In configuration
Categories, criteria and fees are set and published before anything opens.
Submissions Open
Aug 3, 2026
Pick your tier and one sub-category. Add more from the same parent category if you want them, each with its own fee.
Verification
Nov 4, 2026
Admin checks your tier against your proof before judging opens, so you compete at the right level.
Jury Scoring
Aug 3, 2026
Assigned jurors score your project 0 to 100 against the criteria for its category. Pass the threshold and it becomes a Cadet, with a public page and a finalist badge.
Public Voting
Nov 4, 2026
Votes decide the ranking inside each sub-category and tier.
Results Announced
After voting closes Dec 4, 2026
Gold, Silver and Bronze per group. Winners collect a badge, an award page and a certificate.
Gridliners administers these dates. Any of them can change before its window closes.
How an entry is composed
One base sub-category. The entry fee covers it, and it decides your parent category, your criteria and your jury.
Additional sub-categories are optional. Add as many or as few as you want.
Additions must sit in the same parent category as your base. The code says which: everything sharing your two letters is open to you.
Each additional sub-category carries its own fee, listed against it below.
Jump to a category
Two letters per parent, a number per sub-category. The same code appears on finalist and winner listings.
Brand Identity & Logo Design
3 sub-categories
- Logo Design
- $70
- Brand Identity System
- $70
- Packaging Design
- $70
Identity
8 sub-categories
- Brand identity design
- —
- Packaging design
- —
- Brand identity redesign
- —
- Personal Identity
- —
- Visual Identity
- —
- Visual Identity - Rebrand
- —
- Logo design
- —
- Digital Identity
- —
Which tier are you?
You declare a tier when you enter and it is verified before judging opens. Entries are only ever ranked against others in the same tier.
Proofs reach the awards team and nobody else. They are never shown to the jury, never published, and they are deleted after the retention period.
One price per entry, set by your tier and the window you submit in. The price is per entry, not per person, and it is fixed at checkout.
Student
Student ID and university required.
- $100
- NormalOpen nowAug 3 – Nov 4
Freelance
Portfolio or freelance licence required.
- $250
- NormalOpen nowAug 3 – Nov 4
Corporate
Company name and trade licence required.
- $500
- NormalOpen nowAug 3 – Nov 4
All prices in USD
Discounts, and what is not refundable
Additional sub-categories
The price above covers one sub-category. The same project can be entered in more sub-categories under the same parent category, each with its own fee.
Fees run from $70 to $70 per sub-category.
Loyalty
The more you enter in one cycle, the less each entry costs. The discount is worked out at checkout and counts entries that reached Submitted.
- 10%
- Entries 2 to 3
- 20%
- Entry 4
- 30%
- Entry 5 onwards
Promo codes
A code is entered at checkout and reserved when you pay. One that is out of date, fully used, or issued to somebody else is refused with the reason.
Refunds
Read the full terms- Entry fees are final once an entry is submitted and paid.
- Drafts cost nothing. Abandon one at any point.
- Refunds are issued for duplicate charges, payment errors, or a cycle we cancel.
- Not being shortlisted, having an entry moved to another category, and tier corrections do not qualify.
What to have ready
Uploads happen in one step near the end. Having these to hand makes it a few minutes rather than an evening.
A square cover
The one image your project is represented by, everywhere on the site.
Gallery images
The work itself, in the order you want it read.
Supporting documents
PDFs, where the work needs context the images cannot carry.
A video link
For film and motion work, and anything else that moves.
Why enter
Judged in your own tier
Students are ranked against students. A studio's budget never competes with a final-year project.
Scores with criteria attached
Every entry is scored against published criteria by an assigned jury, not ranked on taste.
Published as submitted
Your description runs in the language you wrote it in, Arabic or English, and is never translated for you.
Assets you can use
Finalists and winners get badges, a hosted award page, and a certificate.
Previous awards
Every medal gets a page of its own, which the winner can link to.
See this year's winnersThe next edition is open
Entries are judged in the group you choose, so pick carefully and enter early.