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17/7/2000

BraunPrize 2000

Braun GmbH, Kronberg

Young designers can see their dreams become reality
Renowned BraunPrize announced for 13th time - new concept

"Dream real products": What sounds at first like a contradiction in terms is really the perfect Leitmotif for the BraunPrize: industrial design students and young industrial designers are called upon to turn their ideas for good technological products into the real thing, instead of just dreaming about them. Braun announces the 13th edition of its internationally recognized design award for the year 2001. The competition not only represents a forum for up-and-coming talent; another of its stated goals is to reflect the international educational landscape and to honor those institutions which make a meaningful contribution to the discipline of design.

It is Braun's well-known philosophy to make people the focus of its product development; products must serve the individual and his daily needs - whether in the household, on the job, in his leisure time, or in the area of health care. Prevention and medicine was emphasized at the BraunPrize 1999. The competition was won by Anne Bergner, a student at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts) in Stuttgart, with a measuring device for natural family planning. In addition, the jury honored an orthopedic measuring system (2nd Prize), a carving-sled (3rd) and a location system which helps find people who have been buried alive (4th).

Further sharpen profile
In preparation for the 13th competition, the formal concept of the prize was significantly modified. "This is our reaction to what has been a regular inflation in design awards over the past decade," explained Peter Schneider, Braun's Director of Corporate Design. "The BraunPrize continues to enjoy an outstanding reputation, both in professional circles and with the general public. These conceptual changes will serve to further sharpen its profile and underscore the uniqueness of our competition."

In the future, the prize will be given every two years and be thematically organized. Braun will send its materials directly to about 400 design schools around the world; students should be, when possible, recommended by their professors. Peter Schneider: "In this way, we are hoping to make the competition even better-known. And, naturally, we would like to encourage a more even distribution of international participation."

From all submissions, the jury will select the best six (until now it has been 25-30) in two rounds. In the second round, the design model will serve as the basis for evaluation. Chaired by Peter Schneider, the jury will also include Rainer Silbernagel (Manager Product/Project Engineering at Braun), Chee Perlman (editor in chief, I.D. magazine, New York) and Ross Lovegrove (Master of Design of Royal College of Art, London).

More directly involving the public
Next, the six selected finalists, and their respective professors, will present their works before a forum consisting of design experts and representatives of the press, business and politics. "This group of 60 to 80 persons will then elect the winner of the BraunPrize. The Forum is one of the most visible innovations by which we seek to involve the general public more directly, since a broader public is also strongly interested in product design," explained Peter Schneider. A web site (www.braunprize.com), which provides information and application materials worldwide over the Internet, has also served this goal since the beginning of March. This entry into the Internet, it is hoped, will grow into a communications platform between Braun and the rising generation of designers.

The winner of the BraunPrize will face a dilemma: either 20,000 DM, the highest single prize in the competition's history, or a six-month internship in the Design Department at Braun. Submissions from present industrial design students and beginning professionals who are less than two years out of school will be accepted until the 31st of January, 2001.
(Number of characters, blancs included: 4.208 Number of characters, blancs excluded: 3.570)

For further information please contact:
Braun GmbH
Elisabeth Kallenberger
Frankfurter Str. 145
61476 Kronberg
Germany
Tel ++49-6173-30 2543
Fax ++ 49-6173-30 2727

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