The Awards celebrate designers from the worlds of architecture, innovation, product design, process efficiency, fashion and social justice and gives shape to their vision.

This coming Thursday, September 16th, The Earth Awards will unveil it’s top picks for environmentally and socially conscious designs at a Gala Dinner at Bridgewater House in London. The Earth Awards was created to promote design as a tool for positive action, as a way to address social and environmental issues through inventive design solutions. In only its second year, The Earth Awards received over 500 entries from 65 different countries.

This unique competition, founded by Nicole Ting Yap, pairs innovative ideas with powerful entrepreneurs and investors. In addition to a hefty cash prize, the winners are giving the opportunity to work with industry leaders who have the skills and knowledge to bring the designs to market.

The concepts are specifically consumer-driven so as to push for the creation of a new economy that addresses current social, cultural, economic and ecological downfalls.

The competition is broken down into six categories, each with a unique set of goals in relation to ecological and social effectiveness.

1. The Built Environment
2. Product
3. Future
4. Systems
5. Fashion
6. Social Justice

More than any other of the six submission categories, design ideas in the Product category are strongly consumer-driven. Project entries are physical objects that are not only useful but seek to fulfill a current market need. The selection committee represents a broad span of designers, environmentalist and entrepreneurs, including fashion mogul Diane von Furstenberg, environmentalist and adventurist David DeRothschild and 350.org founder Bill McKibben.

These are a few of my favorite 2010 entries:

Mobile Collards: Hydroponic plant growth machines such as the mobile collards garden can be used in places where ordinary agriculture or gardening is impossible. This portable self contained system made from commonly found recycled and re-purposed commercial products can empower the community by encouraging gardening as a self-reliance strategy.

Human Centered Design: A free innovation guide for NGOs and Social Enterprises to use human-centered design processes.

Cargoshell: Collapsible (quarter size) composite shipping container produces nearly 50% less Co2 that would be generated by the manufacture of its steel counterpart. It is more resistant to corrosion; is easier to clean and floats.

To see more entries from the 2010 Earth Awards check out their Flickr feed.

(Source: The Earth Awards)