DALLAS, TX -- Daltile, in conjunction with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Foundation, has announced Sarah Garcia as the winner of the inaugural Daltile Interior Design Scholarship, presented by the ASID Foundation. As the grand-prize winner of the competition, Garcia was presented with a $10,000 scholarship at Surfaces 2012 to continue her education in the field of interior design. Garcia's winning design was on display at Surfaces 2012, which was recently held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV.

"On behalf of Dal-Tile Corp. and the ASID Foundation, we congratulate Sarah Garcia on winning the Daltile Interior Design Competition," said Lori Kirk-Rolley, Senior Marketing Director of Daltile. "Choosing the winning entries was a daunting challenge, but we feel confident that Miss Garcia, the runners up and merit winners, are the best of what the next generation of interior designers has to offer."

Winners of the Daltile Interior Design Scholarship presented by the ASID Foundation were selected by a panel of industry experts, including Kirk-Rolley; Donna Vining, FASID, RID, CAPS; Lori Carroll, a professional member of the ASID and member of the International Interior Design Association; and Robert Nieminen, Editor of Interiors & Sources. In addition to the grand-prize winner, $5,000 scholarships were awarded to the first-, second- and third-prize winners, and $2,500 scholarships were given to each of the 10 merit award winners. All 14 winning entries will be on display at Daltile's booth at Surfaces.

"Through the competition, we challenged students to design a space using Daltile products inspired by an artistic movement or a specific work of art," said Kirk-Rolley. "The response was tremendous -- drawing over 300 entries from across the U.S. with artistic inspiration as varied as the designs themselves."

Garcia, a senior at Sacramento State University, was inspired by postmodern design in her entry, a concept for a Nike Retail space. It used Greek architecture to play off the heritage of the Nike brand, and create a sense of movement and fluidity in the space. Garcia cleverly used a variety of Daltile products, including one of Daltile's newest products, SlimLite^TM panels in "Oyster," "Smoke" and "Ebony." Additional selections, including Identity^TM and Fabrique^TM,two ColorBody^TM porcelains, as well as a variety of natural stone products, were chosen to showcase the Nike brand and create visibility for the space within a high-traffic retail environment. These products allowed Garcia to achieve an aesthetically pleasing, yet functional space that incorporated a number of design elements, including color, texture, dimensions and innovative use of materials.

Daltile is currently in the planning stages for the 2012-2013 Daltile Interior Design Scholarship, again partnering with ASID Foundations. The upcoming competition will continue to challenge students to push the design envelope and prepare them for the critical thinking and competitive nature of the world of interior design.