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SCA Coffee Design Awards
first debuted at the SCA(A)’s 2016
Specialty Coffee Expo in Atlanta.

Judging

Main judging criteria for all categories are:
1.Innovation and/or Improvements – does the good or service create value for customers?
Is it cost effective, resource efficient, and does it satisfy a specific need? Is there anything simi-
lar on the market, and if yes, why is this entry better? Is this product in line with consumer
preferences?
2. Design – is the product aesthetically appealing? Is the overall result a positive, creative
experience? Does the communication around the product design emphasize minimal material
use, recycled/upcycled materials, or minimal energy use?
3. Education – does the product help you learn more about coffee, coffee systems (scien-
tific, sustainability, social, etc.), or something else?
As entries are open to all, assuming that brands and products from any country can partic-
ipate, design might differ from place to place, and it can be important to take it into consideration,
being familiar with the country and culture of participating brand to be more objective when
making decision. As SCA Coffee Design Awards organizers shared with us: “Our judging criteria
is largely down to the subjective assessment of our judges.

Awarding the best design

Coffee industry is no stranger to the importance of the design: cups, equipment, packaging, interiors,
brands—everything needs to be designed. We talked with SCA Coffee Design Awards organizers to see what
design represents for the coffee industry and how the awards can help brands and companies to get noticed.
The goal of the SCA Coffee Design Awards’ program has always been to embrace the impact of design
throughout specialty coffee, initially the program focused only on packaging to help launch the program and
assess interest. Following its success, organizers added the new categories such as branding, vessels and spaces.

Entry

SCA encourages people from around the world to participate and show their designs, the only
criteria are: entry must be new to your company since 12 months prior to submission date and must be
available for sale to the industry/open for business; also prototypes are not eligible, it should be a fin-
ished physical product that is ready to be sold, basically.
It is interesting that this year due to COVID restriction the award took place only online, and it is
not exactly clear how judges can pick the winner without actually seeing, touching and feeling the
actual physical product, making decisions digitally. In this case, prototypes in production could partic-
ipate as well, since the products did not need to be shipped anywhere. Maybe in the future, the award Noa Berger judging the design submissions
at SCA’s World of Coffee conference in Berlin 2019.
will be open for picking the best project before the production, this way it might help young designers
Photo: Jordan Sanchez for SCA.
not only be seen as great designers but also look for funding, partners and clients.

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