Two student teams share the top honour at the D&AD Student Awards 2009. Student of the Year was awarded to Petra Muda & Harri Leppala from Berghs School Of Communication in Sweden and Micheline Mannion, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in the UK. The prize was presented at the D&AD Student Awards 2009 Ceremony in London last night (2 July).

Muda & Leppala’s entry ‘Find It’ is a mobile phone application that would allow users to send a photo of any item they want to buy to the eBay site, which will then reply with its best match.

Mannion designed a solution to the Faber & Faber book cover brief, incorporating the publisher’s new Print on Demand (PoD) service. It’s a quirky take on the old-fashioned highlighter pen combined with cutting edge technology to create a personalised cover.

Only the most innovative work that answers the brief and successfully breaks boundaries wins the top prize. The Student Awards exist to identify the best new talent in advertising and design. This is only the second time in its 31-year history that the Student of the Year has been awarded jointly.
“When I see a great idea for the first time, my brain asks a whole series of questions: Is it original? Is it even possible? Is it the right solution for the brief and client? If the answer is ‘yes’ then that’s first part of what I call ‘the wow moment’. Then I move onto: Why hasn’t it been done?; and the killer: Why the bloody hell didn’t I think of it first? And all this happens in a wonderful ‘wow moment’,’ said Greg Quinton, D&AD Education Chairman.

He continued, ‘The D&AD Student of the Year judging panel enjoyed the wow moment not once, but twice this year, firstly with Petra and Harri’s ‘Find it’ idea for the Ebay brief. So simple it was instantly and unanimously loved. We all want Ebay to launch it – now. Micheline’s idea for the Faber and Faber brief was quieter but no less compelling. It answered a very real issue – is it possible to create beautiful books using new print on demand technology? Micheline found the solution within the problem and then crafted it elegantly. A beautifully crafted idea will be a ‘wow’ moment every time – so thank you both teams – and many congratulations!

All of the work, including the additional 18 First Prizes and 36 Second Prizes can be viewed at www.dandad.org/studentawards09.