Kathy Appel, ASID was presented with a 2018 IDA (Interior Design Award). The IDA’s are a biennial interior design competition open to all commercial and residential interior designers and architects in the greater Philadelphia region. The design industry sometimes focuses on New York or Los Angeles. There is world class interior design talent in the Philadelphia region and the IDA’s were created to recognize that talent in our own community.
The 2018 awards were presented on Friday evening April 20th at the Loews Hotel in Philadelphia. The Guest of Honor was Mark Strauss President/Publisher Interior Design Magazine and Media 1994-2016. Mark entered retirement briefly but interest in the WELL building standard lured him back into the industry. Award recipients were announced by Master of Ceremonies, Mark Clement, the co-host of “My Fixit Up Life”.
Projects are entered according to project category. Designers must convey the details of the project with a limited number of words and photographs. Documents are uploaded electronically and must be free of identifying materials. The blind competition ensures that the projects are judged solely on the merits of the project design. Judges are selected from across the country and include prominent architects, interior designers, and university professors. Two judges are known for the professional quality of their blogs PLiNTH & CHiNTZ and Architect Design blog. Erika Heet, the Editor in Chief of interiors magazine and Kadie Yale, the Editor in Chief of interiors + sources rounded out the judging panel. The judges are not announced until after the competition, another strategy to keep the focus on the merits of the project design. There are ten judging criteria for which points are awarded. The judges scores are averaged together and the highest scoring projects are awarded.
Kathy was awarded an Honorable Mention in the category Residential Bath under $50,000. See the design in our portfolio and learn what makes it award winning in our next blog post.