The African International Design Awards (AIDA Awards) announced an exciting partnership with the Design Education Forum of Southern Africa (DEFSA). This is a partnership bringing a meaningful impact, one that promises to celebrate design education alongside industry-wide recognition.
The program launched during the African Design Week in Cotonou (22–26 July 2025) was the introduction of a new movement. As a collaborative project between 3C Awards Group and the Africa Design School, AIDA Awards set out to uplift African creativity in four core disciplines: Spatial, Product, Communication, and Fashion design.
Under the leadership of a jury that included visionaries like Bibi Seck of Birsel + Seck and Senegalese designers Ousmane Mbaye, the event will celebrate design rooted in cultural context and practical innovation, while demonstrating that Africa’s design talent is not just emerging, it is ready to be seen and heard.
The Awards now partnered with DEFSA, a powerful force in design education across Southern Africa. Known for its biennial conferences and academic research influence, DEFSA brings networks of educators, researchers, and students together around themes of disruption, culture, and futures. Its next hybrid conference, DESIGN+ Disruptions, Realities, Futures, will take place at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha this September.
Bringing AIDA Awards and DEFSA together connects the people teaching the next generation with a global stage that acknowledges their creative work. Whether through panels, student spotting, journal inclusion, or shared storytelling, this alliance helps design education “step out from behind the curtain.”
Astrid Hébert, co-founder of AIDA Awards, commented: “With DEFSA by our side, we’re taking what begins in classrooms: ideas, sketches, emerging voices, and connecting them to stages that celebrate creativity, culture, and vision. We’re creating a bridge between education and recognition, and giving the next generation of African designers not just exposure, but the real momentum they deserve.“
With a call for entries open until 31 March 2026, the Awards invite professionals, independent designers, and students alike to submit projects that blend culture, sustainability, and creativity via africainternationaldesignawards.com. Meanwhile, DEFSA continues to lead vital conversations on the future of design education and research across Southern Africa, from Gqeberha and far beyond. Learn more about their work at defsa.org.za.
