The judging of the competition was done last week in Gaborone. DTCB External Communications Manager, Tebogo Moribame-Sediko confirmed that the overall winner was selected from the 10 final designers. However, the overall winning designer will only be revealed to the public early next year.
There was an overwhelming response to this year's awards with 106 entries. The entries were received from professionals, students and apprentice designers from across the country. DTCB says with international interest and awareness in this prestigious competition on the increase, the 2010 judging panel comprised local and international judges. The international judges included Sudanese super model Alek Wek, international jewellery designer Karen Lee (China) and art consultant Yoshiko Ikoma (Japan). Local judges were Jacob Thamage (coordinator of the Diamond Hub), Mildred Boduwe (founding principal of the Oodi College of Applied Arts and Technology), Philisano Amos (lecturer at Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology), Sheila Khama (former chief executive officer of De Beers Holdings), and Brian McDonald (DTC Botswana Managing Director).
The 2010 Shining Diamond Awards (SLA) collection contains 30 pieces of diamond jewellery (10 pieces), collectively representing the indigenous diamond design talent of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, making this particular collection the largest of diamond jewellery ever designed and created for DTC. The company says that at the end of this month, the collection will travel to United States of America (US), United Kingdom (UK), India and the Asia-Pacific markets.
Launched in 2008 in Botswana, the DTC Botswana Shining Light Diamond Jewellery competition encourages and draws out local jewellery design talent, creating opportunities for skills development and job creation for citizens. DTC is intending to create a platform for showcasing this talent locally and internationally.
In recent years, the competition has received the support and endorsement of local government through ministerial patronage in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. According to the company, competition has grown and developed over the years and has seen world experts in diamond jewellery designers actively participating in the competition. These have included former Creative Director for De Beers Diamond Jewellers/Visiting Jewellery Professor at the prestigious Central Saint Martin's School for Arts and Design, Reema Pachachi. In addition, the inaugural Botswana winning pieces were showed at last year's Pre-Oscars dinner to celebrate the enduring power of diamonds. For DTCB, this was a wonderful opportunity to bring international media attention to the country. DTC Botswana also prides itself in the skills transfer component of the competition which is one of the key pillars of the competitions.
During the manufacturing of the winning collections, design winners work hand-in-hand with their manufacturing jeweller to create and perfect their winning designs.
The 2008 Botswana winner was Katja Nilsson. Nilsson is currently operating her own jewellery design business in Gaborone. This competition is held every two years.
