The University of Pretoria was crowned as the top institution for Design by the annual Sappi
ThinkAhead Awards, held at The Venue in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, on 23 November
2010. Now in its ninth year, the Awards Scheme was established by the Brand Design
Council (formerly Think) together with Sappi Fine Paper in order to promote excellence in
design among graduating design students. The Awards are open to all final year graphic
design and visual communication students who are required to submit a digital portfolio of
their best work. The overall portfolios are then judged and students are awarded Gold and
Platinum awards accordingly. Single pieces from the portfolio submissions are also awarded
silver and merit awards.

In addition to winning the Institution of the year award, Micaela Reeves, an Information
Design student at the University of Pretoria, walked away with the Platinum award for the
best portfolio. As part of her prize, she won a ticket to the 2011 Design Indaba conference in
Cape Town as well as a Macbook. The University also bagged 5 winning silver entries, with
each student receiving a launch issue of EG, a year’s subscription to ENGINE, a copy of the
2010 Brands and Branding Encyclopaedia and a copy of the 2009 Loeries Annual. Five merit
awards were also presented to the University’s students. The recipients of these awards
were Micaela Reeves, Caryn Oberholzer, Amy van Vuuren, Morné Venter, Karen Meyer and
Bianca Vosloo.

Each year, each participating Institutions receive a themed collateral kit from the Brand
Design Council as part of the Awards’ call to entry. The institutions are then asked to use
these items as part of their drive to get their final year students to enter the Awards. The