Reward a person who has contributed and helped the design system community to raise their knowledge, awareness and skills. This is an opportunity to shout out someone who you feel doesn’t get the recognition they deserve, and is integral to our community growing.

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Criteria for Submission

  • The person needs to be an active member of the design system community, with evidence of their participation in events, community groups, online activity or writing
  • The person needs to have been active in the design system community since January 1, 2024
  • You can nominate somebody else for this award. Similarly, you could nominate yourself for this award.

Community Champion Submission Process

To submit for this category, please provide a case study of your design system documentation. Read through the criteria below, and then hit the button to submit via a Typeform. You'll have the option to either fill in the form, or upload a case study document in PDF or Doc format.

Experience

  • A summary of this person’s experience and expertise in design systems, it might include examples of their work on a specific design system project or initiative.
  • Evidence of their leadership and advocacy for design systems, such as speaking at conferences, organizing community events, hosting or guesting on webinars and podcasts, or writing articles.
  • If you have, provide details of any recognition they have received for their contributions to the design system community, such as being featured in design publications for example.
Submit your entry

Community

  • A summary of their contributions to the design system community, including details of their involvement in events, online forums, educational resources, or other activities that have had a significant impact on the community.
  • Describe their leadership and mentorship skills, including examples of how they have guided or mentored others in the design system community and how they fostered collaboration and inclusivity within the design system community
  • If submitting on somebody else’s behalf, provide a testimonial for how they have impacted your experience within the design systems community and your work.
  • If submitting on your own behalf, provide example quotes or testimonials that demonstrate the impact you have had on the design system community and people’s work.
Submit your entry

Timeline

  1. Nominations will be open from Tuesday 13 May. If you have any questions about the nomination process, then check out the FAQs, or if your question isn't answered, please get in touch at community@zeroheight.com

    13 May, 2025

  2. Once the nominations are closed, we'll be collating the longlist and working through it to determine a shortlist. The shortlist will be determined by the team at zeroheight, and will be based on uniform judging criteria (which we will share in a month or two). With the shortlist creation, we aim to remove as much bias as possible and give everyone a fair chance across the board.

    22 August, 2025

  3. In September, the shortlist will be announced, including public voting! We'll notify all folks as to whether they made the shortlist. The judges will then individually judge each shortlisted entry. We'll also have public voting on each category live on the site!

    15 September, 2025

  4. Once all the judges and public votes are counted, we'll then be able to determine the winner for each category, based off a weighted compilation of votes.

    3 November, 2025

  5. In December, we'll gather the community together at an event in London to announce the winners live. We'll also be live-streaming the ceremony for those who can't make it. The live event will be invite only, but we'll offer the community a chance to apply for a ticket later in the year! We'll also post the results to the zeroheight site the day after the event.

    December 2025 (TBA)

Past Winners