Student and Alumni Awards

UNSW graduates win Good Design ‘Best in Class’ Award for fourth year running

UNSW Industrial Design (Honours) graduate Maoxin Yuan won the top prize at the Good Design Australia Awards, winning ‘Best in Class’ in the Next Gen Category for his design ‘Sooze’, a modular eye care product that supports Keratoconus patients. Maoxin is the fourth consecutive student from the UNSW Industrial Design program to win this prestigious award (following Kathy Ky in 2022, Aidan Whitby in 2023 and Liam Lo Cascio in 2024).

UNSW Founders company Hullbot, which designs, develops and manufactures autonomous, Australian robotics for ship hull maintenance, also won the prestigious Australian Good Design Award of the Year, the highest possible accolade at the event. The company was founded by UNSW alumnus Tom Loefler, who first developed the concept as his major project during his UNSW Industrial Design degree.

Master of Architecture student wins international tall building design competition

Young Jiang, a final-year Master of Architecture student, won the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) 2025 International Student Design Competition for his project ‘EduStack’.

The design, which proposes the reuse of 73% of an existing 1970’s brutalist tower in the Sydney CBD, extends the existing structure by stacking modular ‘learning boxes’ within, and above, providing long term spatial flexibility and material circularity. The result is a K–12 school reimagined as a vertical ecosystem that enhances student well-being and reduces material waste and embodied carbon.

UNSW graduate wins Australia’s Young Planner of the Year

Bachelor of City Planning (Honours) graduate Aaron Petersen was named 2025 Young Planner of the Year, by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) at their National Awards. Aaron is one of the youngest professionals to receive this honour and was recognised for his “significant impact on State Voluntary Planning Agreements (SVPAs), successfully negotiating over $30 million in infrastructure funding for critical urban development projects.”

Karina Turvey, another UNSW Bachelor of City Planning (Honours) graduate, was also recognised by the PIA, winning best Tertiary Student Project for her thesis ‘A Night at the Library’. The citation notes “This project presents a highly insightful and innovative exploration into the evolving nighttime economy, a topic that is rapidly gaining importance in urban planning. The judges were impressed by the depth of research, which clearly connects contemporary planning policies with practical recommendations for activating and diversifying nighttime activities.”

UNSW students win Graduate of the Year awards

UNSW Built Environment students were yet again winners at the Graduate of the Year Awards (GOTYA), hosted by the Design Institute of Australia (DIA).

Bachelor of Interior Architecture (Honours) student Jade Hodge won the ‘Place’ category for her design for the adaptive reuse of White Bay Power Station. The jury noted that “Jade demonstrates exceptional creative design skills and a deep understanding of spatial resolution, creating a breath of fresh air with her Meeting Place Ngurang project that beautifully integrates storytelling, language, ecology, and culinary heritage through biophilic design and immersive symbolism”

Yingqi Amy Feng, from our Industrial Design program, won the ‘Use’ category for her “strong user-centred design thinking with great innovative concepts”.

Master of Architecture student awarded prestigious RPBW internship

Master of Architecture student, Dan Godwin, was awarded a prestigious Renzo Piano Foundation internship, spending 6-months of 2025 working at Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Genoa, Italy – building both his professional knowledge, and gaining credit for his Masters degree in Australia through the UNSW Work Integrated Learning program.

UNSW Sydney is the only Australian university offering a Renzo Piano Foundation internship, which covers flights, accommodation, living expenses and salary. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect established the non-profit foundation to promote architecture through study and research.

Bachelor of Architectural Studies student designs UNSW’s new ceremonial mace

Noah Jugow, a final year student in his Bachelor of Architectural Studies, won a UNSW-wide competition to design the university’s new ceremonial mace, as part of the university’s 75^th anniversary celebrations.

The competition encouraged entrants to create a design that encapsulated UNSW’s essence, was reflective of its position as a global leader in higher education, illustrated a connection to Country, and was able to be made on campus using sustainable materials.

Noah’s design features a wooden globe nested beneath a brass waratah, which represents New South Wales. This sits atop a staff formed in three sections to symbolise the University’s future, present and past. Original artwork by Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist and UNSW alumnus Dennis Golding is engraved into the wooden staff, which is made from locally reclaimed Tasmanian Oak.

Packaging Innovation and Design Awards

UNSW Industrial Design students were widely recognised in the 2025 Packaging Innovation and Design Awards.

Haojie Wang won gold for his sustainable yoghurt packaging design, while Jie Yang and Robin Luo were awarded silver, and Samuel Thanopoulos won bronze. Eight further UNSW students received certificates of merit for their design entries.