Winner of the prestigious Superyacht UK Young Designer Award

Dastinas Steponenas, a final year student from Coventry University, scooped the top prize yesterday in the Superyacht UK Young Designer competition at the 62nd London Boat Show.

Ten students from universities across the UK had 36 hours to create their entries from scratch, live at the Show. The event is designed to raise the profile of the essential hand-drawing skill and to increase awareness of the marine industry as a potential career option.

Dastinas was presented his Award on the Show’s Theatre by leading couture designer, Nicholas Oakwell. Nicholas designed the bespoke gown worn by judge, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, in the 2015 X-Factor final in December. Three representatives from prestigious British yacht design and naval architect companies – Peter Brown from Burgess, Bill Dixon from Dixon Yacht Design and Justin Olesinski from Olesinski – judged the hand drawings.

Speaking about his Award, Dastinas comments: “It’s an absolute honour to win this prestigious Award. I have had a passion for fine art since a very young age and I am really excited about completing my four-week internship at Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth.”

Chairman of Superyacht UK (SYUK) and Joint MD of Pendennis, Mike Carr, comments: “Pendennis is delighted to once again support the Superyacht UK Young Designer annual Award. We have been impressed by the extremely high level of skill and imagination shown by the competitors. When Pendennis was founded 27 years ago, the industry was dominated by hand drawn designs and production schematics. It is refreshing to be part of a competition that embraces traditional creativity – skills that are just as important to our industry as using modern technology. We are very much looking forward to welcoming Dastinas to Pendennis for his internship later this year.”

Richard Selby, International Development Manager for British Marine and Superyacht UK, comments: “On behalf of Superyacht UK and our judges, may I pass on our congratulations to Dastinas. His award is a true reflection of the hard work that he has put into his studies and we’re thrilled to be able to offer him the opportunity to be recognised by the industry and gain invaluable work experience and contacts. There is such incredible design talent in Britain and it was a real privilege to be a part of this fantastic competition.”