How the awards
came to life

"When I founded the South West and South Wales Student Design Awards (SWDDS Awards) back in 1986, digital wasn’t the driving force it is today. Now, it’s an integral part of the awards.

Founding the awards was one of those brilliant, middle-of the-night ideas that seemed to take on a life of its own. As is so often the case, you don’t initially think about the challenges, the logistics, the finance; it’s just such an exciting idea that you go with it.”

“My biggest fear was, would anyone enter a regional student design awards competition? There were established national awards to go for, and this was before we had email and the internet to spread the word. It meant picking up the phone, writing letters and jumping in the car to go and see course leaders. Often we were ignored so we bypassed staff and went straight to the students. And it worked! Since that first year, it’s grown until half of all of design undergraduates in the South West were entering.

Also, I was (and am) immensely proud of the South West and Wales. In the 1980s they could hardly have been called creative hubs, but today they are thriving. I wanted to create something that would encourage, reward and celebrate creativity in our region. And if we could encourage some of those graduates to stay here, get jobs and set up businesses then we could help build the creative talent pool in our region. What has been so satisfying is that several nationally respected designers and film-makers are former winners of the awards. And they are now coming back to be judges themselves.

It is a real privilege to once again be rewarding and showcasing great talent from the universities and colleges of the South West and Wales.”

- Roger Proctor MBE