2025 Wuhan International Creative Design Competition (Golden Yellow Crane Award) Call for Submissions

The 2025 Wuhan Municipal Government Work Report explicitly stated the requirement to "burnish the brand of a world-class design capital". In an effort to build a more livable, business-friendly, and visitor-welcoming people-centered city, and leveraging Wuhan's global brand as the "City of Design", the Wuhan Bureau of Natural Resources and Urban Rural Development has launched the 2025 Wuhan International Creative Design Competition (Golden Yellow Crane Award). Through focused design topics and a public participation approach to placemaking, the competition explores distinctive pathways for Wuhan to construct a modern, people-oriented city.

The Central Urban Work Conference held in July 2025 emphasized the importance of promoting connotative urban development and shifting urban planning philosophies to prioritize a people-centered approach. The theme of the 8th Wuhan Design Biennale, "Boundless Creativity, Integrated Sharing" focuses on breaking down creative boundaries and fostering multidisciplinary integration. Building on this, the theme of this competition is titled "Lively Wuhan: Boundless Co-creation". Rooted in Wuhan's unique urban character—its vibrant local culture and lively atmosphere—the competition translates the Biennale’s macro concept of "boundless creativity" into tangible, participatory co-creation practices. It aims to channel the spirit of integration and sharing into addressing specific design needs in Wuhan’s urban development, showcasing the charm of "Wuhan Design" through real-world projects and extending the impact from conceptual guidance to practical implementation.

Based on the three fundamental needs of a city that is livable, workable, and enjoyable, this competition promotes a flexible design philosophy centered on "small interventions, gentle adjustments, and practical implementation."The competition closely aligns with key projects in various districts, setting up a total of seven parallel design topics. (Specific details in Annex 1).

Projects Locations Information Table

This competition adopts a public participation approach to Placemaking, focusing on a people-oriented philosophy. It aims to break down the "professional barriers" of typical design contests by inviting creative ideas from the public. This ensures that the needs of diverse groups are incorporated into the design, resulting in works that are both aesthetically pleasing and practical, as well as professional and accessible.

(1) Target Participants

This call for entries imposes no restrictions on professional background or geographical location. Diverse global forces are sincerely invited to engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration, with the expectation that innovative thinking will break down industry barriers and unlock new possibilities in spatial design. Eligible participants include but are not limited to the following:

1.Professional Institutions: companies, universities, and research institutes in fields such as urban planning, transportation engineering, architectural landscaping, art design, and technology R&D.

2.Social Forces: cultural and tourism planning teams, community-building organizations, cultural and creative groups, and non-profit organizations.

3.Creative Pioneers: Independent studios, individual creators, opinion leaders, and internet influencers who offer unique perspectives and solutions.

(2) Category Setup

Potential applicants interested in participating in this competition may choose to enter either the "Professional Category" or the "Public Category" based on their background during registration. The review and award processes for these two categories are set up independently. Professional Category Participants are required to submit standardized content such as design drawings and exhibition boards. Public Category Participants are required to submit illustrated reports, with relatively flexible content and format requirements.

IV. Submission Requirements

(1) Design Deliverables

Professional Group: Two A0-sized presentation boards (digital files) in PDF or JPG format, with a resolution no lower than 300 dpi.

Public Group: A creative report combining text and images (text content not exceeding 2,000 words). Acceptable submissions may include Vlogs (with a resolution no less than 1080p and a maximum length of 5 minutes), hand-drawn sketches, photo-overlay drawings, and other formats capable of conveying the proposal content.

(2) Design Deliverables

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Final deliverables must be submitted via email to: wuhancod@126.com

V. Awards

The Professional category will have first, second, and third prizes, while the Public category will have the "Golden Idea" Award, selected by a panel of experts with a cash prize. Each of the seven categories will have a "Most Popular " Award with a cash prize. Participation Award will be granted with specially designed certificates.

First Prize: One winner per group, with a cash prize of CNY 50,000.

Specially designed Wuhan City of Design certificate;

Work will be exhibited in a dedicated area of the Biennale;

The opportunity to participate in the Biennial activities.

Priority for involvement in practical project optimization and design.

Second Prize: One winner per group, with a cash prize of CNY 20,000.

Specially designed Wuhan City of Design certificate;

Work will be exhibited in a dedicated area of the Biennale.

Second Prize: One winner per group, with a cash prize of CNY 10,000.

Specially designed Wuhan City of Design certificate;

Work will be exhibited in a dedicated area of the Biennale.

"Golden Idea" Award: One winner per group, with a cash prize of CNY 5,000.

Specially designed Wuhan City of Design certificate;

Work will be exhibited in a dedicated area of the Biennale.

"Most Popular " Award: One winner per group, with a cash prize of CNY 3,000.

Specially designed Wuhan City of Design certificate.

Participation Award: Given to all participants whose submissions meet the required criteria.

Specially designed Wuhan City of Design certificate.

VI. Schedule

(1) Competition Launch

Sep 17th: The design competition is officially launched and registration opens (the registration form in Annex 2).

September 23rd: The deadline for competition registration.

September 24th: The organizer completes the qualification review of applicants and sends the design briefs via email to eligible participants.

(2) Collaborative Design

September 25th to 30th: An offline workshop will be held for the competition, which will include an in-depth site survey and professional Q&A session. The specific time will be announced separately.

October 24th: The deadline for final submissions.

(3) Competition Review

October 25th to 31st: A panel of experts will review the proposals that meet the initial screening criteria. Simultaneously, on-site public evaluations and online public reviews will be conducted.

(4) Award Ceremony and Follow-up Activities

November 7th: Winning works will be honored at the Biennale activity. The organizer will notify winners by phone and email in advance.

Winning works will be exhibited in the main exhibition area of the Biennale. All materials from the competition process will be included in the Biennale’s promotional video, forming a significant part of the exhibition’s display.

VII. Submission Guidelines

All prizes for this competition will be disbursed in Chinese Yuan (RMB) within the Chinese mainland. International participants who are unable to receive RMB directly may authorize a legally recognized independent entity within the Chinese mainland to collect the award on their behalf.

The copyright of the entries belongs to the participants. The Competition Organizing Committee may print, publish, and exhibit all entries, and may evaluate, display, and promote the entries through media, professional magazines, books, or other forms, but should indicate the participant's name.

Participants should ensure that their submitted entries are original works, and that they own the independent, complete, clear, and undisputed copyright to the entries. The entries should not have been published or publicly displayed anywhere, nor authorized for commercial use (whether paid or unpaid) by any organization or individual, nor have participated in other competitions or solicitations, and should have won awards.

Participants should ensure that their submitted entries do not and will not infringe on any intellectual property rights (including but not limited to copyrights, patent rights), proprietary technologies, or trade secrets of any other person in or outside China. Participants should ensure that if their entries use or contain any intellectual property rights, proprietary technologies, or trade secrets of any other person, they have obtained legal, valid, and sufficient authorization from the rights holder. Participants shall bear all liability for compensation arising from infringement of others' intellectual property rights, proprietary technologies, or trade secrets. Any legal liability arising from violations of the above guarantees shall be borne by the participants, and the Competition Organizing Committee shall not be held responsible. In such cases, the Competition Organizing Committee have the right to disqualify the participant and require the participant to return all prizes and benefits (if any) obtained based on the entry, and compensate for all losses caused to the Competition Organizing Committee.

Participants in this Design Competition shall keep confidential all drawings, related materials provided by the Competition Organizing Committee as well as any information about the Competition Organizing Committee learned during the competition.

All participants in this Design Competition are deemed to agree to and accept the relevant provisions and requirements of this announcement.

This Design Competition, including the competition itself and related documents, is governed by the laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China.

The final interpretation rights of this Design Competition and related documents belong to the Competition Organizing Committee.

VIII. Organizations and Contact Information

Primary Organization: Wuhan Bureau of Natural Resources and Urban Rural Development

Executing Organization: Wuhan Planning and Design Institute, Wuhan Natural Resources Conservation and Utilization Center

Contact: Ms.Zheng 86-027-82700119

Address: Wuhan Planning and Design Institute, Jiang'an District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

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Designated Contact Email: wuhancod@126.com