Plymouth Design Forum launches the ‘Student of the Year’ award in collaboration with Arts University Plymouth and University of Plymouth

Plymouth Design Forum (PDF), which represents Plymouth’s professional design community, is launching an exciting new ‘Student of the Year’ award in collaboration with Arts University Plymouth and University of Plymouth, to recognise the outstanding talent in Plymouth’s student graphic design community. 

The award will be judged independently by members of PDF, rewarding the best emerging talent from each university’s BA (Hons) Graphic Design degree programme, with the two winners receiving a trophy, a two-week internship at a local design firm and a cash prize, providing the perfect kick-start to their future careers. 

Students will be assessed based on their final major project (FMP) and their professional portfolio, presented during the graduate degree shows in June. The judging process will culminate in one winner being selected from each university, with each winner needing to demonstrate originality, creative excellence, attention to detail and thought-provoking ideas, all of which will align with the criteria provided to the panel of judges from PDF.

Award winners will receive a PDF ‘Student of the Year’ award trophy and a two-week work experience with one of Plymouth’s leading design agencies. The student winners will be matched up with businesses that suit their design style and career ambitions, ensuring a tangible benefit to both parties. In addition, each winner will receive a cash prize of over £900, to be paid upon completion of the internship. The award ensures winners can take advantage of some valuable professional experience as soon as they complete their degree, which will hopefully act as a launchpad into their professional careers

Plymouth Design Forum was founded in 2017 as a social meet-up for Plymouth’s design community, creating a valuable place for the creative community to connect, and share ideas and best practice. The PDF meet-ups have grown in size and number, since hosting its first large-scale event in 2019, and they now regularly host evenings with some of the world’s most inspiring and iconic creatives, including Anthony Burrill, Studio.Build, Mr Bingo, Jones Knowles Ritchie, David Pearson, Studio Sutherland and Marina Willer. 

As a collective, PDF is passionate about Plymouth and the value of design. Through the lens of design, it aims to help the city thrive, both culturally and commercially. From the outset, PDF has aimed to nurture and retain existing and emerging talent in the city. Over the last seven years, it has worked with Plymouth’s businesses, schools, universities, charities and community-focused organisations to promote design thinking and creativity, providing guidance on projects and initiatives that have made a real impact on the city of Plymouth and its people, such as the Making Waves bridge in Gydnia Way, the Mayflower schools’ art project on the Embankment and the recent mural installations at North Cross roundabout.

The students from the University of Plymouth’s BA (Hons) Graphic Design course will have their work judged at the university’s degree show, held from 31 May to 7 June 2024. The winner from this course will then find out if they’ve been successful on the week commencing 17 June. Arts University Plymouth’s students from BA (Hons) Graphic Design will have their work reviewed during the university’s graduate show held from 21 to 27 June 2024, with the successful winner notified during the week commencing 8 July. The winners will be announced on the PDF’s social media channels.

The judging panel, selected from PDF’s professional design community, will consist of Darren Foley and James Edgar; founders of PDF, Christina Wilkins; Director of Brand Biscuit, Josh Fathers; graphic designer at James Edgar Studio, Miles Noble; Director of Altitude Design, Nick Dell ‘Anno; Creative Director of Dell ‘Anno Studio, Owen Jones; Founder and Creative Director of Upshot and freelance graphic designer Steve Leard. The judges will view all the work on show at both degree shows, shortlisting names to arrive at an eventual winner from each institution.

The judges will use five different criteria to judge the work on display at the degree shows:

1. Originality – is the work original and thought-provoking?
2. Creative Excellence – does the work exhibit exceptional design thinking, creative ideas and attention to detail?
3. Execution – is the presentation of the work clear, understandable and presented in an engaging format?
4. Innovation – does the work open up new thinking or challenge existing thinking in a new or established area/space/market?
5. Employability – how likely is the work on display going to lead to employment?

Darren Foley, PDF Co-Founder, comments,

“It has been our aim, since PDF’s inception, to find a way to recognise and elevate the incredible talent that emerges from our two amazing universities, and we have finally been able to realise this vision with the creation of our ‘Plymouth Design Forum Student of the Year’ awards. This wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support of PDF’s event partners, GF Smith and Eat Work Art, as well as the community who attend our events and the generosity of the speakers who visit our great city. We’d like to thank everyone for helping us make this happen and we look forward to these awards becoming a sought-after and desirable award for all of the two universities’ graphic design students for many years to come.”

Matt Thame, Lecturer on Art University Plymouth’s BA (Hons) Graphic Design course said,

“This is a really exciting opportunity for the students to become even more involved in Plymouth’s creative community. Throughout this academic year, our third-year students have already been hugely supported by the PDF community and beyond as part of our BA (Hons) Graphic Design mentoring scheme. Not to mention the amazing industry guest talks they host, which I’m sure the students will continue to talk about as they progress in their careers. This award takes it to another level, with the chance to build on creating lasting Industry relationships and gain invaluable insight and experience. A very big thank you, PDF!”

PDF’s next event features Kate Dawkins, video designer, director and founder of Kate Dawkins Studio, held on 30 May at Barbican Theatre. Kate Dawkins is a distinguished multi-BAFTA-winning designer and visionary creative director with an illustrious career spanning over 25 years. Throughout her career, Kate has had the privilege of collaborating closely with esteemed directors, producers and artists, designing and delivering distinctive visual content for some of the largest global brands from the giant 360° ‘Audience Pixels’ for the London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies, to Adidas, Samsung, Jaguar Land Rover, Elton John, the MTV Music Awards and BBC Studios for DCMS and Ministry of Defence.