The Design Council's work with young people in schools has been recognised at two prestigious public relations awards ceremonies this week.
The Water Design Challenge 2010, a partnership between Southern Water and the Design Council which challenges pupils to use design skills to come up with solutions to reduce water waste, was awarded a gold medal for Best Use of Photography and Design at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) PRide Awards, and at the CorpComms Awards 2010 it scooped the prize for Best Communications by a private sector organisation.
The accolades are a measure of the success of the Council's programme of Schools Design Challenges, where world-class design professionals such as the product designer Sebastian Conran and Joe Ferry, Head of Design for Virgin Atlantic, go into schools into work with groups of students, helping them turn their new ideas into practical products and services that address the consequences of climate change.
For the Water Design Challenge, the Design Council collaborated with Southern Water to challenge secondary schools in the South-East to design solutions to reduce their school's water usage. The winning water-saving idea, "The World's Smallest Water Museum," came from students at Sholing Technology College, who worked with designers from Common Ground to create a fun and interactive exhibition that would fit in a portaloo that could be moved around local schools to raise awareness of why we need to save water.
"These accolades are a tremendous endorsement of our the way that designers can engage with and inspire young people in schools," said Nigel Campbell, Design Council's Head of Communications. "It's great that our Design Challenges are giving students the skills to tackle real problems in the real world, and we hope they are on the way to becoming the next generation of eco-designers."