PCB designers working in the DACH region have until May 31 to submit a practical work for the FED PCB Design Award 2022. The award ceremony will take place during the FED conference on September 29-30 in Potsdam. The prestigious prize will be awarded for the 6th time in 2022 by the Fachverband für Design, Leiterplatten- und Elektronikfertigung (FED). It was first announced in 2012 and the application documents can be found at pcbdesignaward.de. The work must be described in an application form. The task, approach and implementation must be explained. A jury of six experts will evaluate the anonymized works independently of each other according to defined criteria. All applications are treated in strict confidence.
The PCB Design Award 2022 has four categories for submissions: '3D/Build Space', 'High Power', 'High Density' and - brand new - 'Simply Ingenious'. In the latter category, 'the slightly different solution' is awarded - regardless of whether something simply ingenious or ingeniously simple has been implemented. The device or assembly for which the submitted PCB designs were created is not relevant. Only a functional prototype must exist. The EDA tool used by the designer is also irrelevant. Design data is not part of the application; only screenshots and photos for illustration purposes must be submitted.
The FED nominates three finalists per category. All nominees will be invited to the award ceremony at the FED conference in Potsdam at the end of September. The FED will cover travel costs and two nights' accommodation. The winners in each category will receive a winner's certificate and an FED seminar voucher. The winners will be presented on the website www.pcb-design-award.de and in other print and online media. In addition, an iPad per category and FED vouchers will be raffled off among the participants. "For me, the nomination was the highlight and appreciation of my decades of work as a designer," says Alfred Holzberger, who was one of the finalists for the PCB Design Award in 2016. Michael Schleicher, who won the award in 2012, puts it similarly: "For me, the PCB Design Award is above all a confirmation of the work and quality I have achieved." And Alexander Tonino says: "I was interested in competing with other PCB designers and receiving feedback from outside, from other experts." The PCB designer from Austria won the prestigious prize in the High Power category.
