Gray’s School of Art 3D Design Students Break The Mould As Offshore Achievement Awards’ Trophy Design Winner 2023 Announced

The winner of the Offshore Achievement Awards (OAA) trophy design competition, in association with Gray’s School of Art, was announced today (Friday 11th November 2022)

The 36th annual OAA awards, supported by principal sponsor TAQA, celebrate the successes of the offshore oil and gas and renewables industries, showcasing business growth and accomplishments, recognising outstanding individual achievements, and highlighting revolutionary technologies. Each category winner takes home a coveted OAA trophy designed each year by Gray’s School of Art 3D Design students.

This year’s winner is Peter Gerlei of Hungary. Peter centred his design on 36 steps. The concept signifies 36 years of the OAA awards, represents time, celebrates the past, highlights the importance of innovation and points to an even brighter future.

Five 3D Design students presented their concepts for the 2023 trophy to a panel of five judges and were then tasked with creating a prototype for further judging. Peter was selected as the 2023 winner with his cast bronze and walnut base design to be crafted into bespoke trophies for next year’s prestigious 2023 Offshore Achievement Awards (OAA).

Talking of being selected as this year’s competition winner Peter says, “In my application to Gray’s School of Art, I wrote a statement about the impossible nature of perfection, and how I feel, the designer’s job to pursue it, knowing full well that it cannot be reached. My design represents this idea of continuous growth and innovation, the very same sentiment OAA champions within the offshore industry. I am truly honoured to be chosen as this year's winner, it is an incredible opportunity, and I could not be happier."

Kenny McAllister, chair of the Offshore Achievement Awards organising committee says, “It is fitting that the trophy design competition is led by the future generation of 3D design students, who may themselves journey into these subjects and build a career in STEM. The OAA remain a not-for-profit event with any profits invested back into events and initiatives organised by SPE Aberdeen to promote STEM subjects to support this future generation.”

Kenny continues, “Profits from the OAA also go into activities supported by the SPE Aberdeen Section including student bursaries, CV workshops, TechFest and Space to Energy so, it is full circle from submitting a trophy design concept to being a beneficiary of the awards event. The design concepts presented once again this year were of such a high calibre that it made judging very difficult. All finalists should be proud of their submissions but there can only be one winner. Peter’s design and prototype encapsulated the OAA’s perfectly. We would like to thank 3D Dimensional Design course leader Ben Durack and Gray’s School of Art for their ongoing commitment to the OAA and this annual design competition.”

Brenda Forbes, Senior Production Programmer at TAQA UK, says, “We’re pleased to be involved in this competition to give students valuable real-world experience on a live design and production project. Having been involved in judging the OAA trophy competition for several years, I continue to be astounded by the creativity and originality from the students each year. This year we had some very worthy contenders and a huge amount of hard work from all the students. Congratulations to Peter on his winning design.”

Winners of the OAA will be announced at a black-tie ceremony compered by television presenter Rachel Riley on 16th March 2023 at the P&J Live in Aberdeen. The full list of OAA categories for 2023 are:

• Emerging Technology
• Innovator
• Internationalisation & Diversification
• Outstanding Skills Development
• Digital Innovation
• Energy Transition
• Carbon Reduction In Conventional Assets
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Exceptional Impact Company – SME
• Young Professional
• Significant Contribution

Entries are now open until 18th November 2022, with finalists announced in January 2023. Entries are open to all UK-registered companies within the oil & gas and renewables sectors – categories, criteria and application forms are available at www.spe-oaa.org.

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