I'm a frustrated designer and architect. I'm always fascinated with house designs and builds, even the old architectural structures of churches, museums, and other iconic structures. These give me a sense of amazement and respect for whoever creates it.

A few days ago, I attended an event to cover the Awarding Ceremony of the Asia Young Designer Awards (AYDA) Philippines 2019. After the fun-filled and painstaking process of creating the designs up to entry submission and judges' deliberation, they finally have the results and the names to recognize as winners at the ceremony held at the PETA Theater Center in Quezon City.


For the Architecture Category, the gold award with a cash prize worth of Php50,000.00 was given to John Carlo De Jesus from the Bulacan State University (BulSU) while the silver award with a cash prize of Php30,000.00 goes to John Harold Siblag of St. Mary's University of Bayumbong.


Meanwhile, for the Interior Design category, Abigail Florence Taghoy of University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu bagged the gold award and a Php50,000.00 cash prize while the silver award with Php30,000.00 prize money went to Clarice Limsui of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB).

The AYDA 2019 Gold Awardees will attend the Asia Young Designer Summit to compete with Asia's best Architecture and Interior Design students happening in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in March 2020. The winners will battle for the chance to be included in the Harvard University Graduate School of Design's Design Discovery Program.

Aside from the major prizes, special awards were also given to other participants during the ceremony. For Architecture, the Best in Color Choice Award went to Christian Adrian Manalo of Batangas State University (BSU). Meanwhile, the Best Green Innovation Award was given to John Carlo De Jesus and the People’s Choice Award to Johann Orozco, both from BulSU. The Best Mentor in this category was awarded to Ar. Diane Alfonso. Also, Bulacan State University was declared as The Best College/University, and The Best Supportive School award for the Architecture Category went to the Far Eastern University (FEU).


For the Interior Design category, the Best Color Choice award went to Michael Gabriel Vazquez of DLS-CSB, while Josette Thai of UP Diliman won the Best Green Innovation Award. The People’s Choice award went to Erika Mari Ordinario of DLS-CSB. The University of San Carlos Cebu was named The Best Collge/University and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde which was declared the Most Supportive School Dr. Hermie Ray Oplado from The University of San Carlos was awarded Best Mentor for the Interior Design Category.

Nippon Paint Philippines President Mark Webb led the awarding ceremonies along with the distinguished panel of judges. Webb affirmed AYDA 2019 was the perfect opportunity to highlight the best young talents of the country, and showcase their brilliance to the international arena. He also thanked the mentors and academic partners who patiently guided, motivated and shared their expertise to the students, and for allowing them to join. He added that Nippon Paint is proud to be part of the initiative in elevating the amazing Filipino skills and talent.

Officials of Nippon Paint Philippines led by the company President Mark Webb (center) handed the Asia Young Designer Awards (AYDA) Philippines 2019 winners their cash prizes and trophies in a ceremony at PETA Theter Center in Quezon City on January 23, 2020. The gold award for the architecture category was given to John Carlo De Jesus from the Bulacan State University (BulSU) while the Interior Design category top prize was bagged by Abigail Florence Taghoy of University of San Carlos University (USC) Cebu. Both went home with the P50,000 cash prize.

AYDA 2019 is a design competition open to Architecture and Interior Design students. The panel of judges is composed of prominent and well-established industry professionals and was supported by the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP), Council of Deans and Heads of Architecture Schools in the Philippines (CODHASP), the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID), and the Council of Interior Design Educators (CIDE).

Visit www.youngdesigneraward.ph or visit www.nipponpaint.ph for more details and updates.