Dezeen Awards 2026 Welcomes Corey Damen Jenkins and Mark Grattan to Its Judging Panel
The design world is buzzing with excitement as Dezeen Awards 2026 announces two exceptional new additions to its distinguished judging panel: interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins and designer Mark Grattan. These appointments signal yet another landmark year for one of the most respected design competitions on the global stage. With their combined expertise spanning interiors, product design, and creative culture, both judges bring a fresh and authoritative perspective to the evaluation process that will shape which projects and designers earn recognition this year.
What Are the Dezeen Awards?
The Dezeen Awards are widely regarded as among the most coveted accolades in the international design and architecture community. Organised by Dezeen, the world's most popular and influential design and architecture media platform, the awards celebrate the very best in architecture, interiors, and design each year. Past editions have attracted thousands of entries from studios, architects, and designers around the world, drawing attention to work that pushes creative boundaries, advances sustainability, and contributes meaningfully to the built environment and material culture.
The judging panel is one of the most closely watched aspects of the awards process. Dezeen selects judges who are not only accomplished practitioners in their respective fields but who also represent a diversity of backgrounds, geographies, and design philosophies. The inclusion of Corey Damen Jenkins and Mark Grattan in the 2026 panel continues this tradition of assembling a panel that reflects the breadth and ambition of the contemporary design world.
Who Is Corey Damen Jenkins?
Corey Damen Jenkins is one of the most recognisable and celebrated voices in American interior design today. Known for his bold use of colour, pattern, and cultural references, Jenkins has built a portfolio of residential and commercial interiors that defy conventional expectations and invite dialogue about identity, history, and beauty. His work has been featured in leading publications including Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and Elle Decor, and he has been named among the top designers in the country by multiple respected outlets.
Jenkins studied at the New York School of Interior Design and has cultivated a design language that draws freely from art history, global craft traditions, and a deep appreciation for maximalist aesthetics. He is also a sought-after speaker, author, and educator, having written extensively about design theory and practice. His appointment as a Dezeen Awards 2026 judge reflects his standing as not only a practitioner of the highest order but also as a thought leader whose opinions carry weight across the industry.
As a judge, Jenkins is expected to bring a particularly discerning eye to interior design categories, looking for projects that demonstrate originality, emotional resonance, and technical craft. His perspective on colour, cultural authenticity, and storytelling through space will undoubtedly influence the calibre of conversation within the judging room.
Who Is Mark Grattan?
Mark Grattan is a designer whose work spans furniture, objects, and spatial design, with a practice rooted in material exploration and conceptual rigour. Grattan has garnered significant attention for his ability to blend handcraft traditions with contemporary formal language, producing objects that feel both timeless and urgently of the moment. His work has been exhibited internationally and acquired by collectors who value design as a cultural and artistic practice rather than purely a functional one.
Grattan's presence on the Dezeen Awards 2026 panel brings a perspective that is deeply attuned to the relationship between making, material, and meaning. In an era when design is increasingly shaped by digital fabrication and mass production, his commitment to craft and considered process offers a valuable counterpoint. Judges like Grattan help ensure that the awards continue to honour work that prioritises quality and intentionality over mere spectacle or trend.
His appointment is also reflective of a broader shift within the design awards landscape towards recognising disciplines that sit at the intersection of design and art. Product and object design has grown significantly in visibility and cultural currency over recent years, and Grattan's inclusion signals that Dezeen Awards 2026 is keen to celebrate this momentum.
Why These Appointments Matter for the Design Industry
The selection of judges for a competition as prominent as the Dezeen Awards has real consequences for the design industry. Judges set the tone for what excellence looks like in any given year. They influence which values — sustainability, inclusivity, craft, innovation — are foregrounded in the evaluation criteria, and their decisions ripple outward into conversations happening in studios, schools, and editorial offices around the world.
By appointing Corey Damen Jenkins and Mark Grattan, Dezeen is signalling a commitment to honouring design that is culturally engaged, materially thoughtful, and genuinely creative. Both judges bring perspectives that challenge default assumptions about what constitutes good design, and their presence on the panel is likely to encourage entrants to think more expansively and ambitiously about what they submit.
How to Enter Dezeen Awards 2026
The Dezeen Awards 2026 are open to architects, interior designers, product designers, and studios worldwide. Categories cover architecture projects, interior projects, design objects, and emerging talent, among others. Entries are evaluated across multiple rounds by the expert judging panel, with shortlisted projects receiving significant international exposure through Dezeen's platforms and editorial coverage.
With judges of the calibre of Corey Damen Jenkins and Mark Grattan now confirmed, the competition promises to be more rigorous and inspiring than ever. Designers and studios looking to have their work recognised on the world stage should take note — and begin preparing their strongest entries now.
A Strong Signal for Design Excellence in 2026
The announcement of Corey Damen Jenkins and Mark Grattan as Dezeen Awards 2026 judges is more than a headline. It is a statement about the direction of design culture and the values that the industry's most prominent platform chooses to champion. As the awards season unfolds, the presence of these two exceptional creative minds on the judging panel will ensure that the conversation about design excellence in 2026 is one worth having — and one that the entire industry will be watching closely.