The London Olympics this year marked another round of global competitions, and while some people follow specific sports, many are enthralled by the overall ranking of winners by country. Our colleagues at A’ Design Award have developed a similar system and deployed it at World Design Rankings. Here are some highlights from winning designers in front-running nations that reflect the sensibilities and challenges of region-specific design problems and solutions.

#1) United States: Currently leading the pack in award winners is the USA, and what could be more American than basketball? Sports fans and graphics enthusiasts alike should enjoy this Statistical Poster by Andrew Garcia Phillips documents the Dallas Mavericks’ season history in an elegant infographic, celebrating a popular national pastime more broadly in the process.

#2) Turkey: Having taken a taxi in Turkey personally, this author can attest to the difficulty of doing so in a major Turkish city. Hence the self-explanatory taxi stand by award winner Hakan Gürsu, which spells out its purpose with ingenious simplicity via bold letters that double as structural elements.

#3) Hong Kong: This Crop Tower by Kevin Chu can be viewed as a natural response both to the high-density nature of the designer’s native city but also the unique juxtaposition of urban development and organic greenery that epitomizes the island of Hong Kong.

So there you have it: the current gold, silver and bronze of A’ Design Award recipient countries. For more play-by-play on a nation-by-nation basis, visit World Design Rankings dot com. And one final reminder: the deadline for submissions is coming up for the next round of awards.

Design awards are about more than a mere prize or praise – they can and should be a platform for greater exposure to potential partners, sponsors and clients. Last week WebUrbanist highlighted winners from previous rounds of A’ Design Award – this week we will give you the inside scoop on the nature and submission process for this unique global competition.

The upcoming deadline is the last day of September, so now is the time to mark your calender and prepare your submission to have a shot at an award in various categories ranging from furniture and decor to products and packaging, interiors and architecture, fashion and advertising, movies and animation, writing and music and more.

In addition to a physical award, certificate and gala-night exhibition invitation, winners of A’ Design Award are featured in an annual yearbook and online portfolio, promoted to blogs and magazines, and provided connections to industry agencies, consultancies and institutions. Unlike some awards, this one requires no further fees from its entrants upon being declared winners.

“A’ Design Award & Competition is the the first and only scientifically developed design award, based on a Ph.D. work in Advanced Design Studio of Politecnico di Milano university, the competition is a result of analysis of 800 prior design awards and competitions, and from a survey of 2000 designers regarding what they want to achieve through design awards. We have developed, and still developing mechanisms to improve returns to designers in means of publicity, recognition, matchmaking and other services, and we have developed extensive methodology, and design award theory, to provide the most to the participating designers and companies.” To register & learn more about the competition visit: whatisadesignaward.com

Each year, thousands of designers from over one hundred countries submit works of architecture, furniture, packaging and more to be considered for A’ Design Award. From the past two years of winning projects featured on DesignMag, WebUrbanist is pleased to present ten of the most compelling designs.

Starting small: the pencil sharpener is perhaps one of the most significant inventions by and for designers of the 20th Century. In a new age where manual writing implements are rapidly becoming retro chic, the Acutor by Jaeryong Lee highlights the cool chaotic remnants of each act of sharpening in a classic scientific flask.

Sizing things up, designers are famously workaholic by nature, so it only makes sense that one inspired insomniac – Athanasia Leivaditou – would craf the Life Desk, an intentional solution for sleeping where you work without simply drifting off while you sit at your desk.

Chateau D’eau House by Mauro Brigham is an exemplary real-life adaptive reuse project. The stunning cylindrical shape once housed a water tower, and now contains six stories of rounded residential and community space.

Office 04 by I29 Interior Architects addresses traditional problems of an office – privacy versus community, quiet versus communication – and solves them with an effective-yet-minimalist palette of unusual designs and materials, including suspended-wall seating stations and sound-absorbing fabric finishes.

Trying to get the public to the library can be a tricky proposition, which is why the Robi Rolling Library by Claudia Miller brings books and reading spaces right to your doorstep. Built-in furniture manages both to save space and provide neat reading nooks in which to sit and watch the world go by.

Chairs and ottomans go together like horses and carriages, but few fit quite as snugly as the Gibbous by Nanu Al-Hamad. In his transforming furniture piece, the two pieces actually become one whole.

Another seating surprise, the Cloche Chair by Carlo Sampietro hides inside a safety barrel, turning “symbols of caution into objects of comfort” with a whimsically-upcycled twist. In a traffic-rerouting protest or public gathering, these could really come in handy.

The Sensei Transformable Chairs/Coffee Table set by Claudio Sibille turns a literal interpretation of the Yin/Yang symbol combination and makes it into a functional piece of convertible furniture, as clever as it is plain.

The Kitchen Train series of accessories by Ahmad Abedini shows that even everyday appliances have room left for creative expression – the potential to be integrated elements as well as modular accent pieces.

A bit of a spin on your standard sink, the Vortex washbasin by Deniz Karasahin gives solid shape to the spiral form of water winding its way toward and down the drain – an elegant solution to spice up an otherwise-ordinary bathroom or kitchen fixture.

Stay tuned: in the upcoming weeks we will give you the inside scoop on what A’ Design Award is all about, how to submit your own designs for consideration, expanding your audience of clients and employers in the process.