Now in its tenth year, the Young Designer of the Year award, sponsored by Oceanco, is the ultimate springboard into the industry for aspiring designers under the age of 25.
The judging panel gathered at Boat International HQ in London earlier this month (December 12) to run the rule over this year’s nine finalists, and we were on hand to capture their reactions:
Peder Eidsgaard, founder of Eidsgaard Design, praised the quality of this year’s entrants, saying, “It’s been fascinating to see all the designs submitted side by side, and as usual there has been a bit of fierce fighting among the judges.”
This year’s challenge was to design an 80 metre mothership and two contrasting tenders for a very demanding client, something that the young designers approached in radically different ways.
For the first time, the competition has been split up into two categories: professional designers and student designers. The winner in each category will be announced in Kitzbühel on February 5 as part of the 2017 ShowBoats Design Awards.
In addition to the top prize of €5,000 for the winning student and €2,000 for the best professional, all of the finalists will be treated to a behind-the-scenes visit to Oceanco HQ.
Roger Lean-Vercoe, chairman of the judges, said, “By the time you get to Kitzbühel, you will already have seen that the final six in the students and the final three in the professional design categories are really fantastic entries — better than we’ve ever seen before.”