Student Design Awards winners: Centenary celebrations

Brief 6: How might we celebrate and bring to life 100 years of the RSA Student Design Awards?

Winner: Student Design Awards Through The Centuries

The journey of the Student Design Awards told through graphic shapes, distinctive colour and striking form.

A storyboard for "The Final Animation," featuring stylized illustrations, including a student in a suit, geometric shapes, books, and a globe. Text highlights animation's storytelling legacy over 100 years and the sense of excitement for future achievements.

Silhouette of a student holding up their hand against a starry night sky, appearing to balance the Earth on their fingertips. The planet is vivid, highlighting Australia and surrounding regions in green and red.

Student Design Awards Through the Centuries is a bold animation that celebrates the rich narrative of 100 years of RSA Student Design Awards. Visual shapes build over time to reveal successful award case studies and create a sense of excitement for what could be achieved looking ahead to the next 100 years.

Teo Hennessy
Limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland

Winner of £2,000 Centenary celebrations Award

Teo Hennessy on LinkedIn

Winner: From The Ground Up

A multimedia animation that showcases the innovation of previous Student Design Award winners as individual artworks within the walls of the iconic RSA house in London.

A collage of images captures a student's stop-motion animation setup. It features clay models, a camera, a green screen, and a lightbox. Hands skillfully craft a clay creature. Text reads: "ANALOGUE PROCESSES" to highlight the hand-made design approach.

Collage-style illustration featuring historic buildings, a cross-section view revealing student multimedia art inside, with two large trees on either side. The text reads, "From the Ground Up," describing an art exhibition. The background is a vibrant teal.

From The Ground Up is a striking animation that shows case studies of award winners as physically part of the RSA. The animation not only celebrates the lasting impact of award making, but also the uniqueness and creativity of these innovators – no two artworks are the same.

Rachel Cartledge
Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland

Winner of £500 Anjool Maldé Centenary Design Award

Website | Instagram

Commended entries

Highly commended

A student strolls through an outdoor office with rows of desks and computers nestled under trees. The desks are arranged like a typical office environment yet harmoniously integrated into the natural setting.

Miriam Hurley, Technological University Dublin, Ireland

Trailblazers to Future Shapers: An illustrative animation that immerses viewers in a journey of the evolution of the Student Design Awards, and aims to inspire specifically young audiences to explore their potential impact as future innovators.

Watch ‘Trailblazers to Future Shapers’

Commended

A grayscale drawing captures a student’s hand sketching with a pencil on a tilted drawing board. The board displays rough shapes and lines, suggesting a preliminary sketch in progress. The scene has a textured, artistic feel.

Sophie Pierce, Technological University Dublin, Ireland

A History of Making a Mark: A rich mark-making charcoal animation revealing the legacy of the RSA Student Design Awards and the impact that it continues to have on society.

Watch ‘A History of Making a Mark’

Commended

Abstract illustration with vibrant colors featuring an ancient column, geometric shapes, and the number "100." The design, reminiscent of a student's artistic flair, includes circles, lines, and wavy patterns in blue, red, and teal on a white background.

Abbie Smith and Frankie Harrison, Northumbria University, England

It All Starts on Paper: A risograph style animation exploring the history of the Student Design Awards through print and paper – where all design begins.

Watch ‘It All Starts on Paper’

Commended

An illustration featuring vintage envelopes and papers labeled "Competition of Industrial Design." It includes a portrait of a student with a mustache, an old stamp, and sketches of a product. The color scheme is muted, with beige and gray tones.

Ying Qi Tang, Technological University Dublin, Ireland

Student Design Awards Scrapbook: A distinctive illustrative animation celebrating the centenary of the Student Design Awards through a universal format of scrapbooking.

Watch ‘Student Design Awards Scrapbook‘

In partnership

We are very grateful to our partners the Marketing Trust and the Anjool Malde Trust for supporting and celebrating the animators of the future who brought to life the rich history of the RSA's Student Design Awards. It's great to see the level of creative talent displayed

Anna Markland

Head of Innovation & Change, RSA

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