SI-155-2006
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Media only: Laurie Olivieri
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Sarah Thompson
(212) 671-5175; sthompson@resnicowschroeder.com
Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Announces Finalists
of the Seventh Annual National Design Awards
For the seventh year, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will honor
achievement in the design world with its National Design Awards. The finalists for the 2006 National
Design Awards, which will be held on Oct. 18, were announced today by Cooper-Hewitt’s Director Paul
Warwick Thompson. Recognizing the most outstanding contributions from the design world in the past
year, the Awards honor nominees in categories encompassing all areas of design. Mrs. Laura Bush is the
honorary patron for this year’s National Design Awards.
“The National Design Awards continue to reflect and celebrate achievements across the design
world,” Thompson said. “I’m delighted to announce this year’s award finalists, all of whom have
consistently challenged the possibilities of design and have demonstrated innovation through their work
in various fields.”
First launched at the White House in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium
Council, the Awards program celebrates design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping
the world and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting
excellence and lasting achievement. Every year, the museum invites national leaders in architecture,
design, education, journalism, criticism and other areas to nominate designers whose work in the past year
has best enhanced the quality of life. A jury of experts in various design fields, chosen by the museum,
selects finalists in nine different categories.
Finalists for architecture design, communications design, landscape design, interior design,
product design and fas