DULUX REWARDS COLOURFUL ENTRIES FROM BRIGHT DESIGNERS

This year, categories for entry included:

Commercial Interior: The interior paint finishes of any commercial or industrial building.

Commercial Exterior: The exterior paint finishes of any commercial or industrial building.

Single Residential Interior: The interior paint finishes of any building used as a private single residence.

Multi Residential Interior: The interior paint finishes of any building used as a private multi-residence.

Single Residential Exterior: The exterior paint finishes of any building used as a private single residence.

Multi Residential Exterior: The exterior paint finishes of any building used as a private multi-residence.

Student (Years 1 - 6): Paint specification by architecture or interior design students who are currently attending or have just completed - within the past 12 months - a course at a recognised University or College.

Grand Prix: The best of the show selected from individual category winners. This must be a complete, built project.

The most popular category entered was Commercial Interior, with 16 finalists selected. Commercial Exterior followed closely with 14; Residential Interior with 12; Residential Exterior and Student categories with eight each; and both the Multi Residential Interior and Multi Residential Exterior categories had four finalists named.

Dulux Colour Planning and Communication Manager, Andrea Lucena-Orr, said there were some strong themes amongst the entry categories.

"For the student entries, purple was a dominant colour. The use of purple continued in the Commercial Interior submissions, with yellows, yellow-green and the use of charcoal also coming through strongly. Citrus and yellow-green was used extensively in the Residential Exterior category and we saw the use of coloured doors as a way of incorporating colour into exteriors”.

"Interestingly, the Commercial Exterior entries had no white. Instead, we saw a stark contrast between dark neutrals and bold saturated colours. Green was dominant in the Multi Residential Exterior group of entries, whereas, Multi Residential Interior entries were predominantly neutral with small splashes of colour," Lucena-Orr said.

The 2013 Dulux Colour Award judging panel was made up of Debbie Ryan - interior designer and owner of architectural practice, McBride Charles Ryan; Dana Tomic Hughes - business owner and editor of interior design blog, Yellowtrace; Adrian Doyle - Melbourne street artist and director of Blender Studios and Melbourne Art Tours; and Denise L'Estrange-Corbet - New Zealand designer and co-founder of fashion label, WORLD will be selecting a project from each category as well as the ultimate stand out project. Winners will be announced at a gala evening in Melbourne on 20 March.

Applicant standards from across Australia and New Zealand were exceptionally high and the judges were extremely impressed with the candidates' ability to specify Dulux colour to create and bring their remarkable projects to life in the third dimension.

For more information on the 2013 Dulux Colour Awards, visit their website.