The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum recently announced the winners and finalists of the 2011 National Design Awards, which recognizes design excellence across several disciplines including architecture design, interior design, landscape architecture, and product design. The 2011 winners include:  

Lifetime Achievement
Matthew Carter

Design Mind Award
Steven Heller

Corporate and Institutional Achievement Award
Knoll  

Architecture Design
Architecture Research Office

Communication Design
Rick Valicenti

Fashion Design
J. Mendel

Interaction Design
Ben Fry

Interior Design
Shelton, Mindel & Associates

Landscape Architecture
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol

Product Design
Continuum

The 2011 jury included: Andrew Blauvelt, Walker Art Center; June Cohen, TED Media; Jamie Drake, Drake Design Associates; Terry Guen, Terry Guen Design Associates Inc., David Kusuma, Tupperware Brands Corp.; Jennifer Morla, Morla Design; Lela Rose, Lela Rose; Billie Tsien, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects; and Patrick Whitney, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology.

A gala dinner for the award recipients will be held on October 20th at Pier Sixty in New York City. For more info on the winners and the awards, click here.