The students, who all study product design at National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin, competed in the 90th anniversary of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Student Design Awards competition. Panels of industry leaders judged the students as they attempted to solve an existing problem.

Alex Milton, head of Design at NCAD, says it was the best year yet for NCAD entries in the awards.

“Success in this competition offers a real boost to the future career prospects of emerging designers, as countless industry representatives scout for new talent at the Awards each year,” Milton says.

NCAD students Paul Moran from Glasnevin, Dublin and Jess Lockhart from Rathgar won the Severn Trent Water Award in the “Water, Water Everywhere” design brief category for their project, “Water Sculptures in the Home".

The brief asked students to design an attractive and engaging product, service or system that addresses water management in an urban environment.

Lockhart says she and Moran were playing around with different ideas when they thought of incorporating the controversial water meters. They started their project by researching and speaking with people on the street about how they used the water meters.

Moran found that traditional water meters weren’t home centerpieces and were hidden away, and they spent three months working on designs to solve this problem.

“We wanted to make something that connected to the water meters and was accessible to everyone,” Lockhart says. “We wanted to make something that was digital, but didn’t look like it was digital. We wanted it looked like it a was analog, little sculpture.”

Lockhart says the possibility of winning was always in the back of their minds, and she and Moran were "absolutely thrilled" when they found out they won the award.

"It’s great for the college and great for the design department. So we are absolutely over the moon about it," Lockhart says.

In addition to Lockhart and Moran’s success in the “Water, Water Everywhere”, four other NCAD students where recognized for their work in the “Tomorrow’s Workplace” brief, which asked students to address the challenges of changing work patterns.

James Donnellan from Monkstown, Co. Dublin and Kevin Glynn from Castlebar, Co. Mayo won the overall award for “Best Design Project” in this brief for their project “The Hatchery".

The winning entries were rewarded with something that college students always want but rarely have: whopping amounts of cash.

Lockhart and Moran each received 500 pounds for their project, and Donnellan and Glynn won a prize of 3,500 pounds.

Stephen Quinn from Carpenterstown, Dublin and P D’Arcy from Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary also had a commendable project in the “Tomorrow’s Workplace” brief for their project, “Attend”.

The NCAD students had fierce completion. The RSA Student Design Awards received more than 600 entries worldwide.

Sevra Davis, manager of the RSA Student Design Awards, says that the number of Irish award winners this year delighted him.

“Irish design has a strong reputation globally, and the NCAD students who were successful in this year’s Awards look set to continue this strong tradition of excellence in design,” Davis said.