A 20-year-old Norwich design student has been selected as the winner of a global competition after hundreds had entered.
Norwich University of the Arts second year student, Hannah Goldsmith, has been named as the winner of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QE Prize) 2021 Create the Trophy Competition.
More than 2,000 people aged between 14 and 24 initially entered with Miss Goldsmith emerging victorious after 10 finalists were shortlisted.
An expert panel of designer and engineer judges led by Sir Ian Blatchford, director and chief executive of the Science Museum Group, felt her design was a worthy winner.
The competition gives young people the opportunity to create a piece of engineering history using the latest in 3D technology.
Having also been shortlisted in 2019, Miss Goldsmith was inspired by Google images for her competition design which resulted in her coming across a neon circuit board.
She used this as the basis for her trophy which she originally sketched, before using software to create her final design.
She said: "It was completely unexpected. To be shortlisted twice was really crazy and I was freaking out!
"I called my mum when I found out I had been shortlisted and when she found out I won, she just squealed down the phone."
Studying a degree in design for publishing and winning this competition may not have happened if it was not for a timetable change while she was taking her GCSEs.
She explained: "I really did not like art at the time. It was only when my school timetable changed that I took it up and that was one of the best decisions I made.
"I switched from studying drama and German to art and French which just opened up my love of art. It is something I can't live without."
The other nine finalists for the QE Prize comprised of two from India, two from the UK and one each from both Montenegro and Iraq.
Miss Goldsmith's design will be 3D printed and presented to each of the five winners of the 2021 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering later this year.
Sir Ian Blatchford said: "The winning design combines elegance and interest – it draws inspiration from the circuit boards on which much science and engineering is done.
"We were particularly struck by Hannah’s entry as it had the audacity of design, it was something our winners can be proud to have on their mantlepiece.”
For details of how to enter the competition, visit https://qeprize.org/trophy.
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