Anant National University (AnantU) had recently organised Question Engage Design (QED), a national level design contest aimed at young designers questioning and identifying a problem statement, engaging with it and its implications, and designing a solution.
Classified into two categories – students and young professionals, the event was moderated by Gowri Raju, Lead, Communications and Marketing at AnantU. The contest consisted of two preliminary rounds and one final round. The first round took place in April 2020, and the second round in May 2020.
The first stage invited video submissions from participants and an essay explaining the problem identified, a detailed account of the workings of the prototype/solution, the materials used, and the impact of the design. The participants for the final round were selected on the basis of the relevance of the problem, research and originality of the solution, and the effectiveness and sustainability of the solution.
The final round took place on June 21, 2020, over an online session, which was also broadcast live on Facebook. Some 18 finalists were shortlisted including 10 students and eight young professionals. The event was attended by students and their families, design enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, professionals, academicians and others in the design fraternity.
The finalists presented their work to a jury consisting of leading entrepreneurs, practitioners, and academics of India. This was followed by a Q&A session with the jury. The jury for the young professionals category comprised Sanjay Banerjee, Subhrangshu Sanyal, Somesh Bhagat, Jagadeesh Sunkad, and Srikant Sastri. The jury for the student category comprised Anubha Kakroo, Miniya Chatterjee, and Amit Gulati. To quote a participant, “There were a few things we had missed to explore in-depth and incorporate in our concept. The mentor’s feedback and suggestions helped us to figure out the gaps in our ideation and our team is working on it. We thank the QED team for creating a mentorship platform for all the participants.”
After carefully judged rounds of applications and presentations, the winners of QED have been declared! The results of the contest are as follows:
Young Professionals Category
Students Category
AnantU will be providing mentorship and assistance to the winners in implementation of their designs. Congratulations to all the winning entries!
