The Young Creative Entrepreneur Design and Fashion Award is a British Council initiative offered in partnership with the Sri Lanka Design Festival. This award, originally titled the Young Fashion Entrepreneur Award was revamped this year to include both the ‘Design’ and ‘Fashion’ sectors.

The award seeks the brightest stars in the world of international design and fashion while recognising the importance of entrepreneurs in driving forward the design and fashion industries in their own countries.

This year, the award was bagged by a talented young man, Prassanna Pathmanathan, who is a Communication/PR Consultant, corporate trainer, and lecturer. Prassanna started his fashion career as a writer and is now a popular fashion journalist. He is also a fashion stylist and has worked with many leading designers, models, and photographers. He is also the National Director of Sri Lanka for the Mr. Earth worldwide pageant and was the first Asian to judge this prestigious pageant last year.

As the YCE Award winner for 2012, Prassanna will attend a tailor-made study tour in the UK, attend fashion and trade events and have the opportunity to network with peers and fashion leaders in the UK.

When asked about winning the award, Prassanna said, ‘It feels amazing to be the first male to win this prestigious award. The networking and learning from the UK tour will give me a platform to start initiatives in the fashion sector in Sri Lanka and other countries. Also, my lifelong dream of starting a fashion portal will be possible by winning this award. There are many expectations from me from the Sri Lankan fashion community as the winner of this award, and I am confident that I will do justice to the title and contribute to the growth of the Sri Lankan creative economy.’

Applicants for the YCE Award 2012 were drawn from various areas of the fashion and design field including architecture, graphic design, fashion design, design and fashion promotion, design and fashion marketing and communication, and product design.

Out of the many applications received, four candidates were short-listed based mainly on their written applications and supported by additional evidence of their entrepreneurial skill and ability.

The short-listed candidates were Charini Suriyage, Gihan Ediriweera, Amilani Perera, and Prassanna Pathmanathan.

The final judging panel for the YCE Award 2012 comprised of Tony Reilly, Country Director British Council Sri Lanka; Shreela Ghosh, Director Arts Wider South Asia, British Council; Channa Daswatte, Trustee Geoffrey Bawa Trust and Lunuganga Trust, and Partner MICD Associates and Kanchana Thalpawila, Founder, KT Brown.