Organizer Information
Wege Prize is organized by the Wege Center for Sustainable Design at Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD) of Ferris State University, with the support of The Wege Foundation. KCAD is a college of art and design located in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, founded in 1928 as a private art academy, which merged with Ferris State University in 2000. The college's Wege Center for Sustainable Design works to empower the college and its surrounding community to collaboratively develop and implement new ideas for a sustainable future, through the lens of whole-systems design thinking. The Wege Prize itself grew out of a partnership between KCAD and The Wege Foundation to create an intercollegiate collaborative design competition giving students the chance to work across academic disciplines to solve complex problems. The competition has run for over a decade, with past winning teams going on to build real ventures in ecotourism, alternative materials, and circular agriculture.
Title & Description
Wege Prize 2027
Wege Prize is described as part design competition, part global learning lab. It challenges transdisciplinary teams of university students to develop real-world solutions to complex "wicked" problems through the framework of the circular economy. Teams propose a product or service that solves such a problem while making circular design its differentiator, then evolve that solution through an iterative process across four competition phases, receiving detailed feedback from judges at each stage.
Theme
The circular economy — designing products, services, and systems that eliminate waste and pollution, keep materials circulating at their highest value, and regenerate natural systems, applied to a "wicked problem" of the team's choosing.
Categories
- Design
- Environment
- Interdisciplinary Arts
- Industrial Design
- Research
- Educations
Eligibility
- Teams must have exactly five (5) members — no more, no less
- Teams must represent three (3) or more academic disciplines, based on current program of study (previous degrees not considered)
- Teams must represent two (2) or more higher education institutions (schools within a larger university count as different institutions)
- Individual members must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate degree program anywhere in the world
- Individual members must be enrolled full-time for the majority of the competition; those graduating before May 2027 must remain enrolled as students through at least December 6, 2026
- Individual participation is not allowed — Wege Prize is a team-only competition
Program Benefits & Awards
- 1st Place: $30,000 USD
- 2nd Place: $20,000 USD
- 3rd Place: $10,000 USD
- Finalist Award (x2): $2,500 USD each, awarded to teams applying as non-business entities
- Total prize pool of $65,000 USD across all awards
- In-depth feedback from Wege Prize judges at each of the four competition phases
- For finalist teams: up to 2 hotel rooms provided in Grand Rapids for the final event
- For finalist teams: up to $3,000 USD in travel expense reimbursement
- Cash prizes for individual (non-business) teams are split equally among all five team members and paid individually; prizes for teams applying as a business entity are paid as a lump sum to that entity (requires a valid U.S. tax ID/EIN and written consent from all team members)
- All prize amounts are stated before applicable taxes, which vary by location, individual, and business tax status
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Phase 1 Submission Deadline: 4 October 2026 (90 teams accepted)
- Phase 1 Judges' Feedback: 18 October 2026
- Phase 2 Submission Deadline: December 6, 2026 (30 teams advance)
- Phase 2 Judges' Feedback: 3 January 2027
- Phase 3 Early Review Submission: 25 January 2027
- Phase 3 Early Review Feedback: 31 January 2027
- Phase 3 Final Submission Deadline: 21 February 2027 (15 semifinalists selected)
- Phase 3 Judges' Feedback: 15 March 2027
- Phase 4 Early Review Submission: 12 April 2027
- Phase 4 Early Review Feedback: 18 April 2027
- Phase 4 Submission Deadline: 16 May 2027 (5 finalists)
- Final Presentation and Awards Event: 21 May 2027
Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
Additional Details
- Judging criteria across all phases: Circularity, Innovation, Viability, Scope, Desirability, Collaboration, and Presentation
- Teams whose applications are not accepted, or that do not advance past a given phase, do not continue to subsequent rounds
- Portions of the circular economy framework language used in the brief are adapted with permission from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
- Organizer maintains a Resources page (FAQs, circular economy primers, wicked problem-solving, design thinking, biomimicry, business model development, materials/technologies) and a LinkedIn group for team formation
- Ferris State University's non-discrimination and accessibility policies apply to the competition, with named contacts for accommodation requests and discrimination complaints