The 2025 Superyacht UK (SYUK) Young Designer Competition brought together eight emerging designers from undergraduate and Master’s programmes to compete for top honours during the Southampton International Boat Show.
Students from University of Staffordshire’s BA (Hons) Automotive & Transport Design course – Ethan Meekin, Adrian Lopez Herranz, Austin Hibbs and James Horrocks – made up half of the shortlist.
Visitors were able to watch the young designers in action as they tackled a live brief set by industry judges to design a 48–50m family-friendly charter yacht for a couple based in Monaco, adjacent to the Pelagos Sanctuary Marine Protected Area. The designers had to consider environmental restrictions, future-proof sustainable features, and the yacht’s full lifecycle.
The judging panel was made up of industry experts, including University of Staffordshire graduate and 2019 competition winner James Shakespeare, who now works at Princess Yachts.
After one-and-a-half days of intense design work, the judges announced this year’s three winners whose concepts stood out for their creativity, technical skill and attention to sustainability.
University of Staffordshire’s James Horrocks narrowly missed first place but came second overall with a futuristic concept and has won a week-long internship with superyacht designer Olesinski.
The 19-year-old from Bolton said: “It's an amazing feeling to have won second and it really builds your confidence as a designer. I am really excited for my internship, I can't wait to see and know how the yacht industry works and hopefully learn lots. It's going to be a really good experience for me and I'm so thankful for the opportunity.
“Meeting lots of professionals in the industry helped me get a good insight into my future career and what pathway I want to take. I would say if anyone ever has a chance like this, take it. It’s an amazing experience and I loved every minute.”
James has just begun his second year of study on the BA (Hons) Automotive & Transport Design course. His winning design was a 50m called Vita Maris meaning "life of the sea" in Latin. The vessel was sleek and futuristic but with a wholesome family feel in the interior, with open plan living and large family orientated spaces with a cinema room inside.
“I wanted my yacht to live its life at sea, just as marine creatures do,” James explained. “So, I designed my yacht to be sunk after its life cycle and then it would act as a bio bank for reefs to grow on and give marine life a new habitat to live in.”
Richard Gilmartin, Co-Course Leader for Automotive & Transport Design, said: “We are so proud of the four students selected as finalists. To apply, they had to submit two design pages for a new yacht. Students from all over the UK and all kinds of courses applied, including transport design, product design, naval architecture and engineering design. So, to make it to the final eight is a huge achievement.
“We are really pleased that James’ effort and attitude was recognised with the second place prize. James had never drawn a superyacht before he applied for this competition, now he can’t stop drawing them!”