As Wege Prize 2024 advances into the second phase of its worldwide student competition for circular innovation, judging of the select 31 remaining teams’ sustainable solutions escalates as the contest’s global team of core judges steps into action.
Taking a lead from Wege Prize’s largely regional panel of 10 preliminary judges that narrowed the competitor field by nearly half from its 58 original participants, the 10 core judges bring an international scope of diverse perspectives in design, sustainability, academics, and economics, amping up criteria for the teams continued advancement in the acclaimed competition.
For more than a decade, Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD), which organizes Wege Prize, has attracted and inspired talented college students around the globe to collaboratively design innovative solutions that combat the world’s “wicked problems” — everything from hunger and pollution to poverty and climate change — by creating innovative, real-world concepts that can support the future circular economy.
Core judges for Wege Prize 2024, which has drawn a record number of competing teams, reunite the distinguished experts who were joined in 2023 by B. K. (Braj) Singh, an advisor on solutions to global challenges in agriculture production, natural resource management, and human capacity enhancement. In 2023 the panel also brought on Deonna Anderson, editorial director of Next City who previously worked with the Wege Prize team to interview the finalist presenters in 2021 and 2022, which are on the Wege Prize YouTube channel.
Rounding out the core judge’s elite roster are:
- Design pioneer, Tom Newhouse of Mich.
- Circular economy professor and Co-CEO of Materiom, Alysia Garmulewicz of Chile
- Circular economy and learning consultant, Meritxell Martín i Pardo of Spain
- Educator, animator, and a nationally known sculptor, Christopher Carter of Fla.
- Professor, entrepreneur, business strategist, author, and speaker, Nathan Shedroff of Calif.
- Strategic management consultant and business owner, Bill Stough of Mich.
- Learning content manager with the Ellen MacArthur, Colin Webster of the United Kingdom
- Circular economy learning consultant, Jo Williams of the United Kingdom.
Find details about all the judges and their bios.
Webster, who has been a core judge since Wege Prize began more than a decade ago, says designers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers can help advance the circular economy. “If we think in that circular way, then we move much closer to a world where we are using these resources the way we should be using them,” he says.
In the coming weeks, the competition’s complement of core judges will assess the student teams’ collaborative work on their innovative concepts and offer expert guidance as the groups refine their products and services into real-world applications that support the circular economy. Only 15 semi-finalist teams will be named by the core judges in January, with five finalist groups selected in March. All five finalist teams will present their ultimate projects to the core judge panel during the competition’s final live event on May 17, with the judges then selecting third, second, and first-place winners who will share in Wege Prize 2024’s $65,000 USD prize pool.
Wege Prize’s top teams have won more than $350,000 in total cash awards since the competition’s onset, helping advance a circular economy among the multidisciplinary, cultural, and institutional participants. With insights from the judges’ guidance, many of the teams’ have advanced their solutions through incubator hubs and startup funding, tackling challenges related to the climate, environment, energy, social justice, the economy, food, farming, and in other areas.
“The students are eager to learn from the judges’ expertise and to collaborate on ways to use those insights to distinguish their products in ways that support a circular economy,” says Gayle DeBruyn, KCAD professor and Wege Prize organizer. She adds the judges’ vast experiences bring attention to essential aspects of the circular economy, sustainable business operations, design, and the natural environment. “With the judges’ spot-on guidance, the student teams are armed with next steps to make a real difference in regenerative product design, production, and use,” says DeBruyn.