Superyacht UK Names Eight Finalists for 2026 Young Designer Competition

Superyacht UK has named eight student designers as finalists for the 2026 Young Designer Competition, which will be staged during the Southampton International Boat Show on 20 and 21 September. The selection brings together students from yacht design, interior design and automotive and transport design courses, giving the competition a deliberately broad mix of creative and technical backgrounds.

The competition is organised by Superyacht UK as a live test of how emerging designers respond to a professional yacht-design brief under time pressure. This year's programme is supported by Sunseeker, Princess Yachts, RWD, Cockwells and Winch Design, placing the finalists in front of businesses and design practices working directly across the contemporary yacht sector.

Eight designers selected for the 2026 final

The finalists are Roman Aime from Solent University's Yacht and Powercraft Design course; Yuan Qi and Maya Kim from the MA Interior Design programme at Kingston University London; and Adam Platt, Sam McMann, James Horrocks and Charlotte Redfearn from Automotive and Transport Design at the University of Staffordshire. Oliver Weaver, studying Automotive and Transport Design at Coventry University, completes the eight-person field.

The range of courses is significant because superyacht design increasingly draws on disciplines beyond conventional naval architecture. Exterior form, interior planning, ergonomics, materials, transport design and visual communication all contribute to how a yacht concept is developed and presented, while the competition asks students to bring those strands together within a fixed brief and deadline.

A live brief rather than a conventional student project

The finalists are due to receive their brief at 16:00 on Saturday 19 September, before design work begins at 09:00 on Sunday. They will then have one and a half days to develop their concepts, with work concluding at 12:30 on Monday 21 September ahead of presentations to the judging panel.

That compressed format is intended to reproduce some of the pressures found in professional design work, where creativity has to coexist with practical, technical and commercial considerations. Instead of refining a university project over several weeks, the competitors must establish a clear idea quickly, develop it coherently and communicate the finished concept to experienced industry judges.

Industry partners put the competition close to professional practice

The involvement of Sunseeker, Princess Yachts, RWD, Cockwells and Winch Design gives the competition direct links to yacht building, production development and specialist design. For the students, that matters because the exercise is not being assessed only as an academic project: the work will be seen in an environment populated by companies that commission, develop, engineer and deliver yachts for real clients.

Superyacht UK describes the competition as a platform for emerging designers to develop their skills, receive professional feedback and demonstrate their potential to the wider industry. Manager Michael Beattie said the standard of applications had been high, with the final eight selected for the creativity and potential shown in their submissions.

Visitors can watch the concepts develop in Southampton

The competition will take place at the Coffee Station in the New Wave Hall, allowing visitors to the show to watch the finalists move from initial sketches toward complete concepts. The prize-giving is scheduled for 15:30 on Monday 21 September on the Boating Stage, after the completed designs have been presented and assessed.

The wider Southampton International Boat Show runs from 18 to 27 September in Southampton, placing the competition within one of the UK's principal marine-industry events. That setting gives the finalists exposure not only to the judging panel but also to builders, suppliers, designers and show visitors moving through the event during the two competition days.

Developing the next generation of superyacht designers

The Young Designer Competition sits within Superyacht UK's wider effort to encourage new entrants into the sector and connect training with professional opportunities. For an industry that depends on a relatively small international pool of specialist designers, naval architects, engineers and craftspeople, identifying talent early and exposing students to real commercial expectations has value beyond the competition itself.

The eight finalists will arrive in Southampton with different educational routes and design perspectives, but all will face the same brief, deadline and judging process. The result on 21 September will identify a winner, while the more important longer-term measure will be how many of the competitors convert the exposure, feedback and industry contacts gained during the event into careers in yacht and superyacht design.