Four GOOD DESIGN Awards for BMW

The year is still young, so to speak, but the battle for the car maker who gains the most prizes has already begun. A favorite of design awards across the globe, German auto maker BMW secured itself a good head start, after receiving no less than four GOOD DESIGN Awards at this year's edition of the annual competition presented by the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture, Art Design and Urban Studies.

The models awarded this year cover pretty much the entire BMW range, from BMW-badged vehicles to MINI and motorcycles. The four BMW products awarded this year are the BMW 5 Series Sedan, the MINI Countryman, the BMW S 1000 RR and the BMW Concept 6.

To be eligible for the awards, the BMW products needed to comply with several requirements. The winners had to be “particularly innovative and visionary products, concepts and ideas that reach beyond the bounds of ordinary product design.”

According to the organizers of the event, to this day, the 60 years old competition follows the same basic criteria of function and aesthetic laid down by its founders, architects Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames and Edgar Kaufmann Jr.

For 2010, the battle was waged by a huge number of products coming from 37 countries. Of them, the international jury of design experts and architects selected 500 to be awarded in their respective categories. The winners, including the BMW products, will be put on display in June, during the GOOD DESIGN SHOW to be held at the Chicago Athenaeum.