H&M Institutes Award for Young Designers

Swedish retail clothing brand H&M has unveiled its plans for a new Design Award aimed at inspiring the younger generations of designers.

The label will allow graduates from fourteen colleges in six countries to compete with each other for the prize. The winner will get to showcase the collection created at Stockholm's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Feb. 1 along with a cash prize of $64150.

Apart from this, H&M has also mentioned that the winner will get the chance to have chosen pieces from their collection sold in selected H&M stores later in the year.

I'm very excited about the H&M Design Award. It´s our first ever prize for new young designers, and it's been such an inspiring experience to meet these talented graduates, to hear the vision behind their collections and to see the final result, said Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M Head of Design.

With the award I hope we encourage young designers around the world to believe in themselves and their creativity. I can't wait to share the experience with everyone on-line, she further mentioned.

Included in the participating colleges are Beckman's College of Design, Universität der Kunste UdK, University of Pforzheim, Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion.

I think this is the most important platform of their careers so far, Vogue UK quotedBritish journalist Hilary Alexander saying. For the winner to win that amount of money and to show at Stockholm Fashion Week is incredible because they really will be catapulted to the front line of fashion.

The H&M Design Award will be an annual prize.