Call for Candidates - Shenzhen Design Award for Young Talents - Deadline: September 13, 2013

Montréal, July 5, 2013 – The Ville de Montréal’s Bureau du design invites Montréal designers to submit applications for the Shenzhen Design Award for Young Talents. The competition, an initiative of Shenzhen, China, which is a UNESCO City of Design, aims to reward the success and talent of young creators aged 35 and under who work in any of the 34 member cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Prizes totalling $165,000 US will be awarded by the City of Shenzhen to a maximum of 18 winners.

Under the theme Recovery: The Power of Design, the Award will reward the efforts of young designers who, through their creativity, have contributed to improving environmental quality as well as to social and economic development—more specifically, making cities more liveable. The competition also seeks, among other things, to encourage exchanges among young designers from various countries, co-operation among the various UNESCO Creative Cities, and the sharing of experiences and ideas in the development of creative and cultural industries.

As a UNESCO City of Design, Montréal, through its Bureau du design, is collaborating in the Award selection process. Each of the participating Creative Cities may submit a maximum of five candidate applications.

Selection process

This call for candidates is open to any design professional or student aged 35 or younger whose main office is located in Montréal or is enrolled as a full-time student at a Montréal university-level institution.

The judging process will take place in two stages:

• Following the call for candidates, local juries in each participating city will select five projects by designers (one student and four professionals).
• The preselected candidates will then be nominated anonymously by the participating cities to the international jury, which will choose the winners.

 Projects will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• Contribution to recovery of local economies.
• Increase in sales (if applicable), lowering of costs, improvements in quality, productivity and profitability.
• Improvements in sustainable development of cities, in socio-economic development, and in citizens’ quality of life.
• Innovation, singularity, creativity, esthetics, sustainability, and user-friendliness.
• International recognition, societal success and commercial success.

The Montréal jury tasked with nominating the five candidates to the international jury consists of the following members:

• Mickaël Carlier, President, Novae
• André Desrosiers, Industrial Designer, Professor, UQÀM School of Design
• Chantal Ladrie, Interior Designer, Lemay
• Juliette Patterson, Architect, Landscape Architect, Senior Partner, Catalyse Urbaine
• Ron Rayside, Architect, Senior Partner, Rayside Labossière

The international jury that will select the Award winners will consist of seven members from different countries and having complementary design expertise. The names of the members will be posted on the website www.szday.org.

Prizes

The winners will share the following prizes awarded by the City of Shenzhen:

Professional category

Grand Award (maximum three winners):
US$30,000 per winner

Merit Award (maximum ten winners):
US$5,000 per winner

Student category

New Star Award (maximum five winners):
US$5,000 per winner

Applications

Interested candidates must submit an application package. There are no fees for submission of entries. Any questions or requests for clarifications must be addressed via e-mail to the professional advisor, Véronique Rioux, Industrial Designer, ADIQ, at prixshenzhen@mtlunescodesign.com

Application packages must be submitted to the following address no later than September 13, 2013, at noon Montréal time.

Bureau du design – Ville de Montréal
(Prix Shenzhen de la relève en design)
303, rue Notre-Dame Est, 6e étage
Montréal (Québec) H2Y 3Y8

For more detailed information, visit the site mtlunescodesign.com.