Two young minds from Mumbai emerge as the Winners Of Question.Engage.Design, A National Level Design Competition by Anant National University
Anant National University hosted the grand finale of Question.Engage.Design (QED), a national level design competition for students and young entrepreneurs, on Sunday, 21st June 2020. With a view to encourage young minds to apply design thinking and curate creative solutions to real life challenges, AnantU announced QED earlier this year. Participants were asked to identify real life challenges and recommend solutions for the same. Preshita Deshmukh and Anuya Desai took on the issue of the hazardous repercussions of fast fashion and emerged as the winners of the competition. Their solution was based on integrating circularity in the fashion industry.
The university hosted the final round of the competition on the virtual meeting platform zoom. The design competition witnessed participation from over 100 students and 30 young entrepreneurs from all over the country. The jury for the grand finale comprises some of the leading entrepreneurs, innovators, corporate leaders and academics of the country like, Sanjay Banerjee, Subhrangshu Sanyal, agadeesh Sunkad, Somesh Bhagat, Srikant Sastri, Anubha Kakroo, Amit Gulati and Miniya Chatterji.
The first stage of the preliminary round invited video submissions and a short note from students on their solution. After the conclusion of the first stage of the preliminary round, thirty student participants were shortlisted, who were required to submit a short essay of 1000 – 1500 words for the next round. These essays covered the problem identified, the detailed account of the workings of the prototype/solution, the materials used and the impact of the design. Contestants also included photographs and drawings of the proposed model with their essay.
The solutions were evaluated on the basis of the impact on society, sustainability, scalability and other relevant aspects. The winners were awarded prize money worth Rs.75,000. All the participants were mentored by a group of experts associated with AnantU. Talking about the competition, Dr. Anunaya Chaubey, Provost, Anant National University, said, “India’s youth has a massive burden to face and conquer some of the greatest challenges for humanity. The QED contest is an initiative to instill in the youth a habit to apply design thinking and seek solutions to societal, economic and environmental problems. We congratulate all our participants who have set out on the path to become solutionaries.”