The Material Lab Prize is a $1,000 grant awarded annually by the Material Lab at Pratt Institute’s School of Design to a student designer whose work makes use of trash.

The prize seeks to celebrate and exhibit student work that considers waste streams as a springboard for new design thinking. In collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Design Strategies and Pratt’s Givetake recycling initiative, the Material Lab Prizes challenges designers at Pratt to incorporate salvaged material, repurposed waste, or found objects in their work. We invite students from any department to submit completed designs that make significant use of reclaimed materials. Submissions at any scale will be considered, including but not limited to apparel, architectural models, furnishings, household goods, or speculative projects.