Winner of 2019 Create the Trophy competition announced
Categories: Design
Today, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) announced 16-year-old Jack Jiang from Hong Kong as the winner of the 2019 Create the Trophy competition. The competition, open to those aged between 14 and 24 around the world, seeks innovative trophy designs to be presented to the winners of the QEPrize. Jack’s intricate design impressed the judges with its complexity and balance, combining traditional trophy shapes with elements of modern wind turbines.
The 2019 competition saw record engagement from over 50 countries worldwide, and a breadth of unique and innovative designs. The ten finalists were then selected for review by an expert panel of judges – designers and engineers led by Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive of the Science Museum Group. Joining him on the panel were Roma Agrawal, a structural engineer at Aecom; Rebeca Ramos, a designer at Heatherwick Studio; and Zoe Laughlin, co-founder and Director of the Institute of Making.
Jack is currently in year 11 studying Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English, Maths, and Art. He is interested in architectural engineering and believes that engineers are key to solving the world’s future challenges. “There are countless environmental problems around the world, and right now they are only getting worse. However, I know that it will be engineers that provide solutions to them,” said Jack.
Jack’s design will be 3D-printed and awarded to the 2019 winners of the £1 million prize, regarded as the world’s most prestigious engineering accolade, later this year. In addition to receiving a state-of-the-art laptop, Jack is invited to see his trophy presented to the winners. The QEPrize celebrates an engineer or group of engineers responsible for a groundbreaking innovation of significant positive impact on humanity. The 2019 prize will be awarded to Dr Bradford Parkinson, Professor James Spilker, Hugo Freuhauf and Richard Schwartz for their work creating the first truly global, satellite-based positioning system – GPS.
When asked about the inspiration behind his design, Jack said: “The inspiration behind this design came, in part, from more traditional trophy shapes. It was also inspired by the efforts of engineers working with sustainable technology, and so I incorporated the design of wind turbines, which can be seen from above.”Also shortlisted were Hannah Goldsmith (UK); Clay Berg (USA); Enoo Rasmussen (Sweden); Rodosthenis Charalampous (Cyprus); Andrew Park (USA); Elijah Haider (Germany); Harvey Williams (UK); Jaco Botha (South Africa); and Khushi Patel (USA).
The Create the Trophy competition gives young people the opportunity to create a piece of engineering history using the latest in 3D technology, QEPrize3D, a free app available on both iOS and Android. The app provides a catalogue of shapes and materials to choose from, and an in-app photo studio allows users to show off their creations.
The shortlisted designs can all be viewed at: qeprize.org/trophy-2019.
Sir Ian Blatchford, director of the Science Museum Group and chairman of the judging panel, said of the winning trophy: “What strikes me about the winning trophy is how well it manages to demonstrate its two main inspirations. It is both an elegant design that acknowledges the traditional trophy form, but its resemblance to wind turbines shows Jack’s a strong passion for engineering and its role in solving future global problems.“We also chose Jack’s design for its sheer exuberance – it will require a great amount of concentration and imagination to make. That quality appeals to the judges, and we will work closely with Jack to realise the final trophy.”
