On Tuesday 22 March we hosted our 2021 – 22 V&A Innovate National Schools Challenge Pitching and Awards Day. What a day it was! The top 50 pupils travelled from across the country to the V&A South Kensington, where they took part in creative workshops with designers, saw their work on display, and stood up in front of a full auditorium to showcase their brilliant design ideas to a panel of industry judges. We had three inspiring industry judges on the panel for this year’s challenge:
Zoe Laughlin: Co-founder and Director of the Institute of Making and the Materials Library, Broadcaster, Designer, Maker and Materials Engineer.
Magid Magid: Race and Climate Justice Activist, Organiser, Author, and Founder and Director of Union of Justice.
Rama Gheerawo: Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art, and RCA Reader in Inclusive Design.
The students’ design projects responded to three themes inspired by our Design: 1900 – Now galleries: Renew, Connect, and Move. They came up with ideas that suggested more sustainable uses of materials and ways of living, ways to support people to (re)connect following COVID-19, and proposed more inclusive ways to keep active and enjoy the outdoors. The imagination, detailed research, consideration of people and planet, and empathy shown in their designs and presentations was inspiring and moving to watch.
Close to 2,000 students took part and 119 teams entered ideas. From all entries received, King Ecgbert School, Sheffield have become our third-ever overall winner for their proposal to design a caterpillar-wheeled walker to support people with limited mobility to explore the outdoors. They also won the Student Choice Award voted for by other finalists!
“Wow, what a day! We’re still buzzing. The opportunity this programme provides is amazing.”
– Helen Vardy, King Ecgbert School
The winning entry for the Renew category was The Tiffin Girls’ School, London for their idea to create an instructional booklet of design ideas to encourage young people to reuse and repurpose fashion waste.
The winning entry for the Connect category was Outwood Academy Haydock for The Ultimate Facemask, designed to support people to communicate more easily when wearing facemasks.
“Thank you for such an inspiring and celebratory day! The boys have made memories for life and we couldn’t be any prouder of them. It really has been fantastic, we’re already excited for next year!”
– Rebecca Critchley, Outwood Academy Haydock
The winning entry for the Move category was Houlton School, Rugby for The Rewalkable, an adjustable, moisture sensing walking stick for the partially sighted, made from recycled products.
The Best Pitch award went to Saint Cecilia’s Church of England School, London, for their entertaining, informative, and enthusiastic pitch for their Manypen design idea.
All the teams did brilliantly well and it was a really tough decision for our judges to select only a handful of winners. Our other finalists from the day were:
Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, Darwen
E-composter – a recycling and food waste bin that provides free compost for the local area, supporting people and planet.
Sandbach High School and Sixth From College, Sandbach
SAFE – pillows with a waterproof, reflective carry bag made from repurposed school shirts and jackets to provide comfort for homeless people locally.
The Tiffin Girls School, London
Cook. Culture. Connect – A cookbook designed to support people to reconnect through food, following COVID-19.
Thomas Gainsborough School, Sudbury
Enercycle – an ‘electricity bike library’. A gym with exercise bikes that generate electricity which can be used by the community.
Watling Academy, Milton Keynes
Moffle – a toy that provides comfort to isolated, lonely and anxious people and supports them to communicate with friends and family members.
TEACHERS OF THE YEAR
The annual V&A Innovate Teacher Awards are a chance for us to celebrate teachers who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to supporting and inspiring their students in design and creative education through the National Schools Challenge. Our winners this year are:
NQT of the Year Award: Sarah Dowley from Thomas Gainsborough School, Suffolk
Teacher of the Year: Linda Hill from Coundon Court School, Coventry.
Congratulations to all students and teachers who took part this year!
WHAT’S NEXT FOR V&A INNOVATE?
We will be announcing the themes for next year’s National Schools Challenge in May. Sign up to our newsletter, find out more about how to take part and explore our resources on our Innovate page at vam.ac.uk/innovate
#InnovateVAM
