Matex Co., Ltd. (Toshima Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO: Hiroshi Matsumoto; hereinafter "Matex"), a wholesale distributor of sash products, is launching the "2nd Matex Social Award," a social design idea contest for university and graduate students. Logo for the 2nd Matex Social Award Following last year's great response, we are holding the award for university and graduate students again this year! The Matex Social Award is a social design idea contest for students that Matex began hosting last year. Despite being the first year, the contest received 73 applications, from which 6 finalists were selected. The winners were decided through a final presentation-based judging. The theme for this year's contest continues from last year: "Social Design Ideas to Support the Lives of Residents." For Matex, which has been involved in creating homes and local communities in collaboration with regional companies as a wholesale dealer of windows, "home building" is one of its business domains. By deliberately using the term "living" (住まう - sumau) instead of just "living" (住む - sumu), we aim to encourage participants to imagine people who intentionally continue to live in a particular region or place and to think of ideas for homes and local communities. We welcome applications not only from students interested in housing, communities, regional revitalization, social design, life design, and social entrepreneurship, but also from all fields and perspectives. A Social Entrepreneur Active in Disaster-Stricken Areas Joins the Judging Panel! A Social Design Award with No Genre Restrictions, Shining a Light on All Ideas The judges will continue to be Yoichi Nakamura, Professor Emeritus at Rikkyo University and Representative Director of the General Incorporated Association Social Design Business Lab; Takato Fukui, Creative Director/Art Director; and Hiroshi Matsumoto, President and CEO of Matex Co., Ltd. This year, we are also pleased to welcome Sae Ito as a judge. Ms. Ito is a socia