Design Award Winner

A Year 10 pupil has won this year’s RSA Pupil Design Awards – a national competition for emerging designers.

Leila scooped the top prize in her age category, picking up her award at RSA House this week, where she joined other finalists and winners for a series of interactive workshops before the awards ceremony. Leila’s project, Green Homes, was in response to a brief about how we might restore nature to urban spaces to ensure that people and the planet thrive together. Her adaptable fence post and frame design project encourages natural growth, provides habitats for insects, and makes the most of unused and abandoned spaces, enhancing local biodiversity.

The judges were particularly impressed with Leila’s presentation of her simple but effective proposal: “A masterclass in storytelling and showcasing a project.” 

The annual awards, run by the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, aims to encourage pupils to use their creativity and imagination to tackle real challenges facing people and the planet. Leila follows in the footsteps of another aspiring designer,  Upper Sixth student Chehara, who won last year’s competition; as last year’s winner, Chehara returned to the awards ceremony to give a speech this year.