Vice City nominated for UK design award

The UK's Design Museum has today announced the four nominees for its new MFI-sponsored Designer of the Year award. The first award, which is worth 25,000 pounds (approximately $40,000), will be given to the UK designer or design team that has made the biggest contribution to design in 2002. In addition to Rockstar Games, which has been nominated for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the nominees include jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Partridge, product designer Tord Boontje, and Jonathan Ive, vice president of industrial design at Apple Computers.

“Obviously we are delighted by the nomination, it is a great honour for the company and the game," said Leslie Benzies, president of Scotland-based Rockstar North. "But also it is a huge step forward in getting recognition for some of the extraordinarily talented people throughout the game development community.”

The shortlist was chosen by a jury chaired by Alice Rawsthorn, director of the Design Museum, and consisting of fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, product designer Marc Newson, Paolo Antonelli of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and design historian Emily King. The winner will be chosen in early June and announced at an award ceremony at the Design Museum at that time. The winner will be selected by both the jury and the public, who can vote either at the Designer of the Year exhibition itself or on the Design Museum Web site.

The Designer of the Year exhibition opens at the Design Museum near Tower Bridge in London on March 1 and runs through June 29. We'll bring you more information on the event and its eventual outcome as soon as it becomes available. For more on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, check out our full review of the game.