This tree-like structure that symbolises the growth of engineering has been chosen as the trophy for a new global prize. The Queen Elizabeth Prize is considered to be the Nobel prize for engineering and yesterday the winner of the trophy competition was announced by Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum Group.
The prestigious award was given to Jennifer Leggett, an A Level student from Sevenoaks in Kent, who was the brains behind the winning design. Jennifer fought off tough competition from a shortlist of ten young designers, aged between 16 and 22, to win the prize and will have the unique opportunity to see her trophy presented to the winner of the Queen Elizabeth Prize at the inaugural ceremony in March 2013. Following the announcement the delighted Jennifer thanked the judges and congratulated her fellow competitors commenting on the quality and range of all the designs in the room.
The panel, who had the tough job of selecting the trophy, consisted of: Science Museum Director and Chair of judges, Ian Blatchford; architect Dame Zaha Hadid; Director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota; Design Museum Director, Deyan Sudjic; and Engineer, Yewande Akinola. During the judging competitors were asked to explain the inspiration behind their design and what material would best fit their trophy but, on announcing the winner, Ian admitted that the judges had to add two additional criteria to help them whittle it down and come to a decision – whether the Queen would take pleasure from handing the prize and how the winner of the QE prize might feel when collecting their award. The winning trophy was described as “jewel-like” and was praised for its strong design which reflected the creativity, power and importance of engineering in the world today.
Reflecting on the competition Ian Blatchford said, “We set a challenge for young people to come up with an iconic trophy design that best embodies the wonder of modern engineering and reflects the merging worlds of science, art, design and engineering. Jennifer has shown real imagination and talent – all the judges were enormously impressed with her design.”
At the awards ceremony at the Science Museum’s Smith Centre, all ten of the shortlisted designers saw their trophy brought to life having had their design transformed into 3D printed prototypes by BAE Systems using the latest in Additive Layer Manufacturing technology. These replicas illustrated the intricate designs of each of the trophies which varied from Alexander Goff’s ‘Flowers and Thorns’ a towering structure of petals and sharp thorns, to Gemma Pollock’s ‘Bright Perceptions’ that centred around a double helix, and Dominic Jacklin’s ‘The Nest’ a vortex of geometric shapes which was concieved to represent the ubiquity of engineering in our lives.
The QE prize is a new £1 million global engineering prize, launched in 2012 which rewards and celebrates an individual (or up to three people) responsible for a ground-breaking innovation in engineering that has been of global benefit to humanity. The first winner of the QE prize will be announced in March 2013 and will be presented with Jennifer’s trophy by the Queen in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.