Designboom is highlighting eight diverse international competitions running through October that invite architects, designers, and creative professionals to showcase innovative solutions before submission deadlines approach. The competitions span from September to October and encourage both visionary thinking and practical creativity across various design disciplines.

The featured competitions include the 5th edition of Tactical Urbanism NOW!, which seeks hyperlocal yet scalable public space solutions addressing environmental and social challenges, and The Architects Chair 4, where participants must distill their architectural philosophy into a single, iconic piece of furniture. These diverse briefs demonstrate the breadth of creative opportunities available to international designers.

Designboom's competition platform serves as a springboard for creatives worldwide, providing designers, architects, and artists the opportunity to promote their open calls to a global audience exceeding 3.5 million readers monthly. The submission process remains straightforward, requiring completion of a self-submission form with essential details including jury members, awards, prizes, and official call-for-entry links.

TerraViva's UNESCO Ancient Theatre competition, with an October 10, 2025 deadline, invites participants to design a unique space where past, present, and future merge through architectural and urban continuity. Projects must unify various elements of Ohrid's Ancient Theatre through cohesive integration of architectural and landscape features, including materials, textures, and spatial relationships to enhance overall site harmony.

WIRED Japan's Creative Hack Award, established in 2013 with an October 6, 2025 deadline, recognizes next-generation creators who value ambitious vision and think beyond geographical borders. The 13th annual award's theme centers on "HACK," described as "a desire to improve something you absolutely love; a desire to overthrow something you absolutely detest." Entry requires only a clear statement of what was hacked, how, and why, with no entry fee required.

Buildner presents two significant competitions: The Architects Chair with an October 23, 2025 deadline, and the Denver Affordable Housing Challenge due October 20, 2025. The chair competition offers architects and designers an opportunity to showcase creativity by designing signature chairs embodying their unique architectural vision, inspired by renowned architects' tradition of creating custom furniture as work extensions. The Denver challenge, organized with AIA Colorado and the City and County of Denver, represents the 19th installment in Buildner's Affordable Housing Challenge series, exploring how affordability and design excellence can harmonize to create innovative, high-quality housing solutions tailored to Denver's specific context.

The Korean Federation of Design Industry Associations (KODIA) hosts the Global Design iT Award 2025 with an October 10, 2025 deadline. Since 2011, KODIA has hosted the iT Award recognizing outstanding achievements by designers, companies, directors, and agencies in Korea. The award expanded globally in 2022, becoming the Global Design iT Award, which selects and honors exceptional designs worldwide through fair, transparent judging by a global expert panel representing domestic and international design industries.

TerraViva's fifth annual Tactical Urbanism NOW! competition, with an October 31, 2025 deadline, encourages creative designers to propose original spaces fostering long-term, sustainable changes. This edition invites participants to embrace a hyperlocal yet scalable mindset, addressing 21st-century challenges through new urban living models driven by evolving environmental concerns, shifting social dynamics, and technological innovation. Recent years have transformed cities into laboratories for bold experimentation, rethinking how public spaces respond to contemporary life's complexities.

Rounding out the October competitions are the Indigo Design Award with an early bird deadline of September 30, 2025, featuring categories including Graphic Design, Digital Design, Branding, and Design for Social Change. An esteemed international jury from leading companies such as Spotify, TBWAChiatDay NY, NIKE, Google, IBM, Apple, and Microsoft evaluates entries alongside acclaimed independent designers. The NY Product Design Awards, running from September 18 through October 22, 2025, honors talented product designers, design teams, and manufacturers worldwide whose practical and ingenious creations have improved daily living, celebrating excellence in all facets of design work and recognizing designers' contributions to the industry.