The scheme began in 1924 as the Competition of Industrial Design; this later became the Industrial Art Bursaries Competition (1946), the Design Bursaries Competition (1977), the Student Design Awards (1989/90), Design Directions (2003) and back to the Student Design AwardS in (2010). This is a project based award scheme for students of design which is judged by leaders in design and business. Its aims to bring promising students to the attention of the industry, to help students near the end of their education to sharpen their ability to contribute within a commercial setting, to influence design education by directing the attention of students to areas not necessarily covered in their course, and to give winning students the opportunity of industrial work experience or travel to further their design careers.\n\nIn addition to the travel and attachment awards given under each separate section of the competition, there were a number of special awards given to recognise winning students either for a particular feature of their winning entry, or some other criteria allied to the special award. These awards ran at different stages of the competition and each award ran for a different length of time. The special awards offered in a particular year were usually recorded in the project book and review/ report for that year. The winners of these awards were normally announced at a later date than the main competition results and therefore winners were only occasionally mentioned in the annual review/ report books. Where it is known that an additional award was won by a student, this is recorded on the individual's record. \n\nThese prizes included (this list is not complete):\n' Associateship of the RSA (winners of travel or attachment awards were also entitled to a year's free Fellowhsip of the RSA if they were over 25, and a year's free Associateship if they were under 25)\n' The Jacobs Memorial Award Certificate (for the student who submitted the best study tour report both in terms of content and presentation) \n' Alyson Leslie Award (this was first offered in 1992/93 and was awarded to the writer of the report which, in the view of Alyson Leslie, communicated to the reader most effectively how they used the award, what benefits they derived from it and how it would influence their future career)\n' Sir Frank Warner Memorial Medal (this medal commemorated the initiation of the original Competition of Industrial Design by Frank Warner. It was awarded for the best individual textile design. This medal was linked to the Sir Ernest Goodale Memorial Award) \n' Sir Ernest Goodale Memorial Award (this award was established by The Worshipful Company of Weavers in memory of Sir Ernest Goodale who was chairman of the RSA Design Committee. The award was given to the winner of the Sir Frank Memorial Medal to enable them to travel further afield)\n\n' The Whittington Award (this award was sponsored by the Mercers' Company and given to the entry that best demonstrated an understanding and appropriateness in their design on the theme, 'Design for Export')\n' The Master's Medal (this medal was presented by the Master of the RDI Faculty to the student who, in the opinion of the Master, solved the problem set out in any brief in the most practical, elegant and commercially viable manner)\n' The Chartered Society of Designers Student Medal (beginning in 1988/89, a silver medal was awarded to an outstanding student in each of the Chartered Society's design disciplines)\n' Wally Olins Opportunity Award (started in 2001/02 this award was for the student who most eloquently made a case for the use of the money to add value to the design business as a whole) \n' British Airways Flight Awards (a certain number of point to point flights within Europe were given to students who won travel awards)\n' The BIB Design Consultants Attachment and European Travel Award (the winner of this award was selected from short-listed students entering any of the industrial/ product design sections)\n' The BIB Travel Award to the United States (started in 1988/89, the winner of this award was selected from short-listed students entering any of the industrial/ product design sections who would most benefit from visiting the USA)\n' Deryck Healey International Colour Bursary Award (this was awarded to the student who demonstrated the impact of colour in a way which was exceptionally appropriate to consumer needs)\n' Formica Award (Formica Limited offered money for a well-planned study tour for the candidate who made the most appropriate and imaginative use of Formica Products in their solution to a project within the Student Design Awards)\n' The Kodak Photographic Award (this was given to students in specified sections of the competition who answered the brief in predominantly photographic terms.\n\n\nRecords include administrative files and correspondence, minutes of various committees, printed material including annual reports, publicity material and photographs of a small selection of winning designs.
The RSA also ran several competitions on behalf of other institutions etc.\nFiles contain general administrative correspondence and minutes of meetings relating to the individual. projects/bursaries.\nFiles relate to the administration of the scheme.
Correspondence and working papers relating to the funding of the Design Busaries Competition. Also correspondence about developing Anglo-American relations via the Design Management Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1973 the Burton Group introduced a series of awards which were designed to examine and improve the effectiveness of the designer's role in industry. These awards were administered variously by the RSA, the Design Council, The Royal College of Arts and the Society of industrial Artists and Designers with funds provided by the Burton Group.\n\nPart 1: The Burton Group Design Award Report for the Royal Society of Arts. \n ''The Needs of the Manufacturing Sector in their Expectations of Industrial\n Designers' by John Collins, June 1978\n\nPart 2: Burton Award project 1978-1979 was administered by the RSA in conjunction\n with the University of Bath. Research was undertaken by Jay Doblin and\n focussed on what should be done to improve the standard of buying and thereby\n design, particularly in education and training. Administrative correspondence.\n
The RSA runs a medical equipment design award scheme in association with the British Surgical Trades Association in which £5,000 Research and Development Grants will be available. Each award provides a nine month research and Development Grant for final year degree or diploma students and postgraduates working in the field of design.\n\nAdministrative correspondence.
Administrative correspondence.
The Photographic section was an addition to the Design Bursaries in 1980/81. The award was given specifically for colour and was offered at a considerably increased value. The competition was sponsored by Kodak.\n\nAdministrative correspondence which includes a report on the 1980/81 candidates.
Correspondence and Minutes of meetings held between the RSA, the Design Council and the British Council. Includes an Executive summary of the scoping project presented to the British Council, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Design Council, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Royal Society of Arts by AEA Management Consultants
Established in 1985, the aim of the Young Designers into Industry scheme was to match the skills of top young designers with the needs of British industry. The scheme results from an initiative announced by John Butcher as part of the government's Strategy for Design launched in 1984. Through it, newly qualified designers are awarded 12 month assisted placements in selected industrial companies. The administration of the scheme was undertaken by the RSA while it was funded jointly by the Department of Trade and Industry and the industrial companies involved. \n\nAdministrative correspondence, minutes, progress reports and press releases.
Administrative correspondence and papers relating to the Industrial Art Bursaries Competition includes and a breakdown of age groups of bursary winners in the 18 competitions held since 1946, an analysis of the competitions 1951-1967 and the opening speech given by Sir Gordon Russell of the Exhibition of Winning Designs in the 1964 Industrial Art Bursaries Competition.
The British Museum and the RSA established the award to encourage the improvement of design in museums and equipment in them and to encourage young designers to concentrate on such problems.\n\nCorrespondence and working papers relating to the establishment of the award. Includes design briefs for 1977 and 1983.
Correspondence and press releases relating to the administration of the Chartered Society of Designers Medal. The medal and a cash prize, to be used by the winners for the same travel or industrial attachment purpose as the RSA Bursary, was given to an outstanding student in the set design disciplines. Medal winners were selected from the winning and highly commended entries of the Design Bursaries competition by a judging panel comprising Members and Fellows of the Chartered Society of Designers and presented in conjunction with the RSA's Design Bursaries Competition at ceremonies held in May.
Clean technologies lecture and Centre for sustainable design and Surrey Institute proposal to Canon UK about the development of the 'Sustainable World' theme within the RSA Student Design Awards.
Correspondence relating to a joint venture between the Student Design Awards and the Design Council which aimed to incorporate Design Council strategies into the 1990's scheme. Includes minutes of a meeting held on 6 January 1992 between the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) the funding body, the Design Council and the RSA Steering Committee and a 'Report for DTI on RSA Student Design Awards 1991/92'.
Includes applications for awards and a few samples of essays written in support of claims.
The Award was established to complement RSA student award activities at undergraduate level by the active encouragement of outstanding design projects/studies, related to communications, at postgraduate level. It was also hoped that it would enhance the status of such postgraduate studies and that the results of these studies might benefit the community at large and /or British Telecom in particular.\n\nAdministrative correspondence relating to the establishment of the RDI/British Telecom Design Awards (Royal Designers annual awards in communications).
The file is organised alphabetically according to award categories. Names of jurors and the year in which they presided are noted.
Information taken originally from published reports of the scheme were weeded from this file.\n\nFile consists of background information on the origins of the scheme and a list of the scheme's highlights.
In 1888 The National Association for the Advancement of Arts and its Application to Industry was founded for the purpose of holding an Annual Congress for the reading of papers on the application of Art to Industry. In 1906 it was decided to devote existing funds to an open Studentship for the promotion and encouragement of art. In 1928 the Trustees approached the Society with a view to the Trusteeship being taken over by the Society. Subsequently an Art Congress Studentship of the value of £50 was offered in connection with the Industrial Designs Competition of 1928.\n\nThree Trust Deeds or Deeds of Appointment. The first, dated 1 June 1912, concerns the appointment of a new Trustee; the second, dated 2 August 1906 concerns the foundation of 'The Art Congress Studentship'; and the last, dated 1 May 1928, concerns the appointment of the RSA as Trustees.
Includes correspondence with Alyson Leslie and winners of the award, correspondence about arranging details of the award presentation, discussion on who should win the award, and guidelines and criteria for judging the competition.