Calling all New Zealand Diploma in Design students! Showcase your creativity and technical skills by entering the 2025 NKBA Student Design Competition. Thanks to our partners at Resene, Enko, and Fit, there are three chances to win $500!
Competition Categories
Best Concept Kitchen Design - Design a kitchen based on the brief and floor plan supplied in the entry form. If you have already completed Assignment 3, you can adapt your Austin or Reeves project and submit it as your entry for this category.
Best Installed Kitchen Design - Submit a kitchen design that you have completed for a client from conception to installation (this cannot be a showroom kitchen).
Best Technical Kitchen Plans - Students who enter Best Concept Kitchen and/or Best Installed Kitchen will automatically be entered into this category. Plans need to meet the NKBA Spatial Design Guidelines and Drawing Standards*.
How to Enter
Complete the entry form and email with your entry files (Word, PDF, JPG, JPEG, TIF, TIFF, PNG, PSD, or EPS) to education@nkba.org.nz by 5pm on Friday 28 July. If your files are too large, please send them via a link.
All files must be clearly labelled with your name and the competition category.
What to Include
Designs must be presented in A3 landscape format at a scale of 1:20 or 1:25, and include:
- Floor plan
- Elevations
- Renders and/or perspectives
- Mechanical plan (including water, waste, power, and ducting)
- Lighting plan
- Colour scheme/mood board
- Specification sheet
Entries for the Best Installed Kitchen Design category must also include:
- Design Brief outlining the client’s requirements (max 150 words)
- Design Statement outlining how you met the client’s requirements and overcame any associated challenges (max 350 words)
- 3-5 photos of the completed project
- The name of your photographer
Judging Criteria
The judges will be looking for:
- Designs that meet the client brief
- Plans that are drawn to industry standard*
- Application of spatial design guidelines and design elements/principles
- Creative and cohesive use of colour and lighting
Terms and Conditions
Entry is free.
Students must be enrolled in the NZ Diploma in Kitchen Design (enrolments currently on ‘hold’ are not eligible to enter). If you are unsure of your enrolment status, please contact education@nkba.org.nz before submitting your entry.
Students who enter Best Concept Kitchen Design and/or Best Installed Kitchen Design will automatically be entered into the Best Technical Kitchen Plans category.
NKBA and the competition sponsors may profile the winning designers and entries on social media and/or in print publications (with credit to the designer, photographer, employer, and NBKA suppliers, where possible).
The competition is open until Monday 28 July 2025.
The winner of each award category will receive a $500 cash prize.
Winners will be notified by Monday 11 August and officially announced at the 2025 Excellence in Design Awards in Auckland on Friday 5 September.
Questions?
For more information about the Student Design Competition, email education@nkba.org.nz
* The NKBA Drawing Standards and Spatial Design Guidelines are included in your Year 1 course manual. Email education@nkba.org.nz if you would like a PDF version