Winners Top Tips

Q. Why did you enter the awards?

"My lecturer told me about the awards and after I read the flyer that came through, I wanted to enter to give myself a better chance in the job market - with some real-life experience".

Q. What was the best thing about entering?

"Without doubt it's who I met at the Award Winners Gala Dinner - a really swanky black-tie event in London with loads of really big companies there, all looking at my work and asking me for my business card! I got a job with Display Plan as a direct result of the awards".

Q. What advice would you give to students entering this year?

"You need to really do your homework about the brand, understand what their key messages are and know what they want from retail display"

Q. And what about any major no-no's?

"Well that's easy - don't just design something that looks pretty - it's not just about aesthetics, the thing has to work if it was placed in store, so give some serious thought to materials and the overall ergonomics"

"Oh - one final thing - remember to look at the industry as a whole, not just your course notes! Use your lecturers and get loads of info from POPAI, they've got tonnes of stuff that can help, like industry presentations and case studies"

Tess Flory, Gold Winner 2002

Q. What was the best thing about entering?

"It has to be the exposure and understanding you get for the retail marketing/ P-O-P industry - OK it meant I had to put in a bit of extra work, but when it came to interviews, I would be sat next to graduates who knew nothing about the indsutry, it gave me a massive headstart over everyone else".

Q. What advice you would give to students entering this year?

"Start thinking about your entry today..! It helps you apply your skills to a real world situation and gives you hands-on experience of a really cool industry, there's loads of top jobs waiting and entering the awards will give you a massive advantage  - oh, and the cash is handy too!"