The De Beers Group Designers Initiative’s Shining Light Awards this year encouraged participants to showcase how they celebrate heroines and heritage in their respective countries.

Fashion and jewellery gurus from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Italy converged in Gaborone, Botswana, over two days in July, to review this year's entries.

According to the panel of judges, great talent was displayed, with some entrants having creatively celebrated male figures as their “heroines”, based on the impact they have had on society and heritage in general.

The judges highlighted that there was no right or wrong interpretation of the theme and that jewellery design, as an art, provided leeway for its diverse application.

One winner and two runners-up, for each country, will be announced at the Shining Light Awards Ceremony, in Gaborone, Botswana, in November.

This Shining Light Awards has, since its launch in 1996, garnered considerable interest from young jewellery designers who have used the event to enhance their craft in jewellery design.

The initiative was, in 2018, extended to Canada and this year alone saw over 100 applicants from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Canada enter the competition.

The competition has evolved from a gregarious jewellery design competition to one where competitors are now designing commercial collections. In doing so, it has become an essential element of De Beers Group’s beneficiation strategy, the group said in a statement on Monday.

“Adding value to our natural resources, including diamonds, through the design and manufacture of high-quality jewellery is a logical progression of our strategy.

“I am particularly pleased that Ursula Pule, who is one of the members of our enterprise development project for diamond beneficiators, was able to play a role in the process as a judge,” commented De Beers Sightholder Sales senior VP Peter Moeti.