A New Opportunity to Win “Get in the Picture – New Talent of the Year”

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA) is announcing the return of the “Get in the Picture – New Talent of the Year” competition with Startup Campus as its professional partner and with the professional support of the Budapest Complex Vocational Training Centre. First launched in 2022, with the aim of establishing a tradition, the initiative is dedicated to the talent management, inspiration, and creative development of the professionals of the future. Teams of full-time students enrolled in vocational training programs for fashion and design can apply to the competition with project ideas centred around the theme “Heritage Reloaded: Design for Tomorrow”.

The HFDA’s primary tasks include supporting industry vocational training development with a focus on elevating prestige, industry innovation, and promoting sustainability. The Agency started a collaboration with Startup Campus in the autumn of 2019 to establish a value-creating fashion and design industry ecosystem to boost the sector. Concurrently, the Vocational Training Development Support Program was created to facilitate professional prestige enhancement and vocational training development since 2022.

Startup Campus, with the HFDA as its partner and in a professional collaboration with the Budapest Complex Vocational Training Centre, is announcing the “Get in the Picture – New Talent of the Year” competition again in 2024. The objective of the call for applications under the Vocational Training Development Support Program is community building and development, during which full-time students in vocational training in fashion and design make use of the possibilities of teamwork and showcase their skills and creativity to a broader audience.

The 2024 contest’s theme is “Heritage Reloaded: Design for Tomorrow”; within the topic, the students get a free hand with the help of some keywords such as preserving value, value transfer, reinvention, form, function and decoration. Students between the ages of 14–21 who study full-time in fashion and design industry vocational training can apply to the program. Students of decoration, graphic design, and photography can also join teams of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 students. You can apply with a product or project idea within the topic that holds exciting possibilities. Applicants can use a variety of freely chosen methodologies, materials, and techniques, which they find best illustrate their ideas while presenting the topic of value preservation innovatively.

Following the submission of the ideas and the closing of the application period, a jury of experts will select the teams that will develop their project ideas over the following two and a half months. During the implementation period, highly qualified mentors and tutors will support participants in creating their projects. The expert mentors in the field of fashion are Bori Györök, Anna Keszeg, and Adél Kovács. Mentors in the field of design: Balázs Édes, Sára Kele, and Dávid Pap. The “Get in the Picture – New Talent of the Year” will be launched in 2024 with a renowned ambassador, Bence Csalár, fashion journalist and -expert. The entries created during the implementation period will again be evaluated by a professional jury, who will select the three best teams in the fields of fashion and design and award them with valuable rewards, including prizes and the opportunity to participate in professional workshops and the HFDA’s technical events.

The professional collaborating partner institutions are organising a roadshow during the initial application period, the first two venues of which will focus on recruitment for the competition, in addition to increasing the prestige of fashion and design professions. Bence Csalár, the official host of the program, will join the national roadshow, which is planned to include two vocational training institutions in Budapest and two in the countryside.

You can find more information about the “Get in the Picture – New Talent of the Year” call for applications and the registration form HERE.