Barbara Hulanicki, Sophia Webster add headline appeal to Cordwainers Footwear Awards

The 2024 Cordwainers Footwear Awards is to take on added dimensions this year. Apart from the awards themselves to be presented at Saddlers’ Hall, in the City of London on 13 June, British luxury footwear designer Sophia Webster is to deliver the keynote speech.

And designer/artist Barbara Hulanicki is to produce sketches of winning designs that will be auctioned in aid of Cordwainer charities.

Open to students of footwear design across the UK, 16 finalists will compete to win the Cordwainers Footwear Awards Trophy. The awards not only offer footwear design students “significant” cash prizes and the chance to earn industry recognition for their work, but finalists are also given the opportunity to gain mentoring experience from some of the best names in the British footwear industry.

As well as the main award, additional categories include the Sneaker/Athleisure Award, “which recognises the innovative design work in this area”, and the Sustainability Award, “which promotes the incredible work emerging to produce footwear designs that are environmentally sustainable”.

First prize is £3,000, second prize is £2,000 while the Sustainable Development Award Sneaker/Athleisure Award winners will each receive £1,500.

This year, the Sue Saunders Award for Excellence, awarded by nomination to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the footwear trade, will be presented to Webster. A graduate of the Cordwainers course at the London College of Fashion, she’s “an entrepreneurial footwear designer with an outstanding global reputation”.

The awards are 10 years old and inaugural winner Helen Kirkum said: “Without the Cordwainers award, I wouldn’t have got where I am today. After graduating, I wanted to pursue a Master’s at the Royal College of Art, but I had no way of funding it – until I won the award. The prize money set me on my path.”

“Through the awards, we have seen the emergence of incredible talent, innovation and excellence over the last ten years, not least our first winner, the sneaker designer Helen Kirkham,” said Judith Millidge, Master of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers.

She added: “In the last decade we have given away over £100,000 of prize money and promoted the careers of more than 150 students, helping them to achieve their dreams of working in the footwear industry or founding their own businesses. We are really proud of that legacy and will continue to nurture and celebrate the talents of the next generation of designers with our annual awards. Britain leads the way in footwear design and the industry is worth over £730 million each year in the UK. The Cordwainers are committed to supporting the talent needed to take it forward.”