Queen Elizabeth Trophy designs released

Nine finalists for the design of next year's trophy - public asked to vote for favourite

The Royal Academy of Engineering has invited the public to vote for their favourite design via Facebook. The result of this vote will be considered alongside the decision of six other judges, who will select the design for 2015's prize on 29 September.

The £1 million Queen Elizabeth prize, which will be awarded early next year, was won last year by the five engineers credited with creating the internet: Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, Louis Pouzin, Tim Berners-Lee and Marc Andreessen.

All the finalists for the “Create the Trophy” are aged between 17 and 24 and are still in education across the UK. The winner will receive £2000 as well see the trophy design made.

Lord Browne of Madingley, chairman of the QEPrize trustees, said: “The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering celebrates the transformational power of engineering by honouring engineers whose work has changed the world. The ultimate purpose of the QEPrize is to inspire and engage young people in engineering. Through the Create the Trophy competition we can ensure that young people are represented in the award of the QEPrize, and we can also highlight the importance of design in engineering.

“The Create the Trophy competition this year attracted an excellent field of entries from young designers and engineers from around the UK.”

The judging panel for the second QEPrize cycle is chaired by Lord Alec Broers, and the international panel of judges includes Professor Brian Cox of CERN, Dr Chen Jining from Tsinghua University in Bejing, and Professor John Hennessy of Stanford University.