Young Designer of the Year Award 2011 – Finalists announced!

On Monday 5 September, a collection of the world’s leading superyacht designers met in London to decide the winner of the fourth annual Young Designer of the Year Award, sponsored by Camper & Nicholsons International (CNI).

Students of design and recent graduates were called upon to enter the competition, which has in recent years uncovered some of the industry’s most exciting and innovative creative talents. Entries were submitted by talented youngsters from all corners of the globe, including the U.S, Taiwan, New Zealand and Moscow, as well as a large European contingent.

Thirty submissions were deemed to have met the entry requirements, submitted all the required materials and complied with the detailed design brief set by the chairman of the judges, Roger-Lean Vercoe. Of these thirty entries, sixteen front-runners were shortlisted by a subcommittee and put forward for a second round of judging by a panel of internationally known designers.

Each entry was scrutinised in meticulous detail by the judges who, after much deliberation, selected five outstanding finalists and the overall winner. The winner will receive €5,000 prize money and be invited to accept their award at the ShowBoats Design Awards gala evening, in front of an audience of the industry’s most influential players. The winning designer will also gain complimentary entry to the two-day Superyachts Design Symposium which precedes the prize giving ceremony in Palm Beach and a discretionary two-week work experience attachment in an established yacht design office.

Additionally, all finalists will have the rare opportunity to gain some first-hand industry experience at the kind invitation of Lürssen Shipyard, who will once again fly all finalists to Germany to visit their impressive shipyards in Bremen and Rendsburg.

The Young Designer of the Year Award 2011 finalists are:

Bill Coxon & Adam Koolman for Evolution
Michael Givens for KT
Jorge Jabor Pinheiro for Narwhal
Misha Merzliakov for Eva
Nick Mezas for R & R

Congratulations to all finalists for their exceptional efforts. The winner of the Young Designer of the Year Award 2011 will be announced in Palm Beach on 25 October and published in the January issue of Boat International.