Think Out of the Box with Imaginations!
Competition continues to cultivate young design talents
Award Ceremony for
Disney ImagiNations Hong Kong Design Competition 2018
(HONG KONG, Dec 10, 2018) – Outstanding designs come from imaginations and exploration! Near 300 tertiary students from Hong Kong and mainland Chinese institutions joined the “Disney ImagiNations Hong Kong Design Competition 2018” with the same vision. This annual competition allows students to use their imaginations to design new exploratory experience. The winning team is eligible to have a learning experience at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI)’s headquarters in Glendale, California. This year, the students recreated a natural or ancient wonder as a new exploratory experience with exceptional imaginations beyond the traditional framework.
The competition received over 70 entries this year. Teams from eight educational institutions entered the final stage, showcasing their creativity and design talent.
At today’s ceremony, the winners received their awards from Edward Yau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, who joined as the Guest of Honor.
“Nurturing young talents is a long-term and ongoing process which needs the collective action from the government, the industry and the community. This is the eighth year of Disney ImagiNations in Hong Kong,” said Yau. “I am happy to see past participants grew from being students to design or creativity professionals. Some of them joined Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) Asia while others found their own careers in the creative industry. This is a testament to Disney’s long-term commitment in contributing to the society, and a reminder that the development of the creative industry requires sustained investment, foresight and persistence.”
Mariam Im, Acting Managing Director, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, said “HKDL has for many years leveraged on our expertise in creativity and entertainment to organize this competition, providing a platform for students to showcase their imaginations and creative talents. This is the first year the competition allowed cross-college teams with the aim of encouraging collaboration among talents from different universities and tertiary institutions.”
The champion of this competition goes to Dilara Polat and Yasmin Baratova from SCAD Hong Kong. They were born in Turkey and Uzbckistan respectively, and came to Hong Kong for design courses. They have chosen the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world, as the story background with designed characters. Under their concept of “time-quake”, guests will enjoy a thrilling ride through time. The judges think this team is strong on story-telling with adequate research. They can make use of four boats with different characteristics to present the story, and it is a brilliant idea of “time-quake” to incorporate different time periods in the same location. There is a constant changing of scenery which is exciting to guests. The winning team is looking forward to going to the WDI’s headquarter for exchange. They hope they can join Disney to continue their creative design journey after graduation!
The 1st runner-up goes to Chan Sze-wah and He Jingsu from the University of Hong Kong who designed the theme park Oasis using the background of Babylon. There are two 2ndrunners-up this year from the University of Hong Kong and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. All the designs come with different themes to bring new exploratory experiences to guests.
The Disney ImagiNations Competition was first launched in the United States in 1992. Hong Kong held its first Disney ImagiNations Competition in 2011, making it the first region to host the competition abroad. The winning team is eligible to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience at WDI’s headquarters in Glendale, California, fully sponsored by HKDL. They will meet experienced Imagineers and finalists of the U.S. contest, visit model shops and preview new Disney projects. They will also be considered for job interviews and internships, plus a six-week work experience at HKDL.