A UNIQUE CEREMONY AND CELEBRATION

INDEX: Award is not only the biggest design award in the world – but probably also the most important. Staged before a black-tie audience led by INDEX: Design to Improve Life^® royal patron HRH the Crown Prince and HRH the Crown Princess of Denmark, INDEX: Award Ceremony names the winners of the world’s richest design award, the INDEX: Award, and is broadcasted on both national Danish television and to a worldwide audience in an online live stream.

The coveted INDEX: Award carries a total purse of €500,000 (more than US$700,000) and the award ceremony took place in Copenhagen’s new breathtaking Opera House in front of an audience of more than 1,000 Danish and international designers, politicians, business leaders, students, celebrities, etc. who are all invited to the ceremony to celebrate design that makes a difference in people’s lives.

The award is presented to five different winners in five different categories: Body, Work, Home, Play and Community, and the winners are chosen by the 10-man international INDEX: Award Jury hailing from all over the world.

The colorful, fast-paced and singularly devised 2011 awards program began streaming at 8:00 p.m. Copenhagen time Thursday September 1st 2011, with the assistance of DR and at http://www.DesignToImproveLife.dk. Everyone was welcome to watch the show online and, by clicking on the Connect with Facebook button, interact with Friends on Facebook to discuss, debate and learn about Design to Improve Life.

Set at Copenhagen's Opera House, the evening was led by two key media personalities Adrian Lloyd Hughes of DR2’s “The Arbiters of Taste,” Copenhagen, and Ravi Naidoo, INDEX: Award Jury member and founder of Designindaba in South Africa. The two charismatic hosts juggled difficult design terminologies and hard-to-pronounce names with onstage winner interviews and live music - and they did it SO well!