The RSA Student Design Awards Opens for Entry

The RSA Student Design Awards (The SDAs) are calling for entries to their 2015 Awards.

Since 1924 the Awards have challenged emerging artists, designers, thinkers and makers to use design thinking, craft and ingenuity to drive innovation. You can view this year's briefs here.

The SDAs challenge young designers with briefs based on real world business issues affecting major brands and design organisations. The academic community has for many years used the Awards as a key means to bridge the gap between university and industry, encouraging students to focus their skills on creating genuine innovations via design thinking. 

This year there are eight briefs, with challenges ranging from designing sustainable toys to creating ways of connecting people to their heritage. They are sponsored by Waitrose, The Eden Project, RBS, Unilever, Springetts, Priestmangoode, The Patricia Tindale Legacy and Green Room. On 17th September 2014 sponsor representatives come to the RSA in London to present the briefs at a Launch + Tutor Briefing Event. 

For the first time in recent history the Awards feature an animation brief. ‘Moving Pictures’ provides two exclusive audio files from the RSA’s world-renowned public events programme, and asks students to produce an accompanying animation to energise and illuminate the content. 

The winning work from 2014’s 90th Anniversary Awards included proposals for new packaging made from beeswax, an alarm clock app to improve well-being amongst 18-25 year olds, an affordable sanitary towel for schoolgirls in low-income areas, and a frugally-designed hygiene pack for use in refugee camps. 

The SDAs attract entries from all over the world, including the US, China, Germany and the UAE. 

Winning entries to the briefs attract with a range of benefits including bursaries from the sponsors, work placements and mentoring support to develop fledging careers. This year’s Awards include over £12,000 in cash prizes plus a range of paid internships, including at the Eden Project, Green Room and Priestmangoode. 

Over their 90 years, the SDAs have evolved into one of the creative industry’s most cherished sources of new talent –a key scouting tool for a range of employers, offering a critical boost to fledgling designers’ careers across different sectors. Previous winners of the Awards include Sir Jonathan Ive, RDI, Richard Clarke, Global Vice President of Design at Nike, Paul Priestman founder of Priestmangoode, and Tom Tobia, founder of Makerversity. 

Commenting on the SDAs, the RSA’S Co-director of Design Nat Hunter said: “We want people to know that design isn’t about prettification: design is the cornerstone of society’s fight for positive social and environmental change. The RSA Student Design Awards exist to shine a light on some of our most difficult business challenges and create innovations to address them. For brands, they show how important design thinking can be in remaining competitive. And the Awards demonstrate to young designers just how widely they can apply their skills in industry – and how invaluable those skills can be in making change.”

Sevra Davis, Manager, RSA Student Design Awards, said: "The focus of the 2014/15 RSA Student Design Awards reflects exciting changes and developments at the RSA. The organisation has a renewed purpose that we call the ‘Power to Create’: the notion that we should unleash the capacity and creativity of individuals and communities to turn their ideas into reality." 

"The RSA Student Design Awards aim to lead, foster and support the ‘Power to Create’ by helping people to unlock their inherent creativity. We aim to empower emerging designers to be capable, active participants in solving a range of pressing social, environmental and economic issues and our briefs this year focus on challenges such as how we can design environments that foster creative thinking, how we can better embrace circular economy principles in consumer products, and how communities can make the most of their heritage."