The craft&design Selected Awards 2010 get underway today with voting ongoing until midnight on 30th April. The Awards are open to talented designer-makers and artisans featured in Selected, an online gallery at www.craftmaker.co.uk, with all makers operating either in the UK or Ireland.
Gold & Silver Awards will be given in six separate categories and an Overall Winner Award for the entrant polling the highest number of votes – craft&design Selected Maker of the Year 2010. Total prize value across the Gold Awards is in excess of £17,500.
The six categories are: Glass, Wood & Metal, Jewellery & Precious Metals, Pottery, Textiles and Specialist Media.
The 2010 Awards will build on the huge success of the craft&design Selected Awards 2009 when an enormous amount of voting took place, particularly in the latter stages of the competition.
A total of nineteen awards across the six categories were made with an overall Award to the individual who attracted the most votes – in 2009 this was Jessamy Kelly in the ‘Glass’ category. Her prize amounted to a value of £5,000 which included £1,000 in cash.
All the 2009 Gold and Silver Award winners are showcased in a series of features in the January/February 2010 issue of craft&design magazine (on sale 3rd December) and their work also features on the craft&design 2010 calendar.
The craft&design Selected Awards serve to highlight the enormous creative talent we have in this country – despite economic strategies that have led to the decline in the availability of British-made goods nationally.
Voters visit an online gallery, which features the work of hundreds of talented professional designer-makers and artisans. Each one has met the criteria of the craft&design panel, which includes skill and originality in design and making.
The Awards were launched in 2009 to coincide with the magazine’s 25th year of publishing. Directors Paul and Angie Boyer wanted to mark this milestone with something relevant to both magazine and readers and they felt the industry needed all the help it could get in the current economic climate.
Over the years craft&design magazine has been used by countless craftsmen and women for advice, feature opportunities and all the news about the industry. It has also been used to support and sponsor awards up and down the country and this continues today.
This latest step empowers voters to help keep British craftsmanship alive by supporting their favourite designer-makers.
For further information about the craft&design Selected Awards 2010 please visit the website www.craftanddesign.net/awards or the current issue of craftanddesign magazine, which is available at selected galleries and stockists throughout the UK.
